


Wipe Out 2

by Veritas33



Series: Supercorp Surfing AU [2]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015), supercorp - Fandom
Genre: Action, Bisexual Kara Danvers, Disaster, Drama, Engagement, F/F, Fluff, Happy Ending, Hawaii, Island life, Lesbian Lena Luthor, Love, Marriage, Ocean, Protective Kara Danvers, Sequel, Smut, Soulmates, SuperCorp, Surf, Surfer Kara, Surfing, Surfing AU, Suspense, Wedding, beach, buckle up this may get crazy, kara x lena - Freeform, karlena, married, oahu - Freeform, photographer lena, proposal, tsunami
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:40:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 27,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22124230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Veritas33/pseuds/Veritas33
Summary: Sequel to the surfing AU, due to popular demand. Kara and Lena are happy and about to take a huge leap forward in their relationship, until disaster strikes and threatens… everything.
Relationships: Alex Danvers/Kelly Olsen, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Series: Supercorp Surfing AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1592476
Comments: 494
Kudos: 1200





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> You asked for a sequel. I decided to give it to you. Picks up not long after [Wipe Out](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21108986/chapters/50228765). And yes, we're starting with smut. And fluff. And sweetness. Because they deserve it before things get crazy. Buckle up.

Kara’s hips undulate as Lena straddles her lap, body facing away from her. Lena struggles to find air as she feels Kara’s breath on her neck and breasts at her back. They move together like a perfect machine as Kara drives home the most precise impact with every upwards thrust and roll of her hips. Lena had loved playing nurse to Kara during those weeks of recovery, but here and now having Kara back at full strength, plowing up into her with endless endurance, as if the accident had never happened - _is glorious_.

And as always, she never misses. They’ve been together so many times already, Lena's actually lost count. But not once has Kara ever missed nailing the perfect spot when she’s inside of her. Lena often wonders how she got so lucky to have what might be the world’s greatest lover - or at least the island’s, based on the impressed and at times even jealous glares she’s received now that she’s permanently on Kara’s arm.

And _in_ her arms. Her _strong, toned_ arms. Lena bites her lips and lets out a whimper as those rough yet somehow still soft hands and strong, veined fingers slip from their grip on her hips and stomach and find a place of rest on her breasts, massaging as their joint movement continues with a more hurried pace as Lena starts to climb closer and closer to the crescendo for the fourth time tonight.

“Fuck, Kara -“ she says with near tears in her eyes as the feeling is almost just too much.

As if on cue, Kara drops one hand low, reaching to rub at Lena’s front and that’s all it takes -

Lena’s neck cranes back, her body snaps like a bow, back arching as a high pitched grunting sound somehow creaks from a parched throat.

And Kara stops the thrusts the moment she arrives, letting her hips stay up, strap buried to the hilt at the perfect angle so the pressure between the phallus inside and the halted fingers pushing outside prolongs Lena’s orgasm.

Her mouth remains agape as she lets the explosion continue to overtake her, blinding her as she desperately clings to Kara’s hands, one still at her breast and the other far below.

But when she doesn’t come down, when she practically gets stuck in the blinding grip of orgasm - 

“Breathe.” Kara whispers in her ear, like so many times before.“Breathe, Lena.”

A gurgled exhaling moan escapes as Lena finally falls over that edge, and her body finally loses its rigidity.

“Fuck...” she breathes hard, letting the back of her head fully tilt back to rest on Kara’s shoulder behind her as Kara slowly resumes giving a few rolls of her hips to see her through the waves of her increasingly relaxing pleasure.

But she can tell Kara’s barely holding on. She feels her fingers tighten on her skin. Feels Kara’s breathing uneven and desperate. She needs her own release and the torturously slow thrusts she gives Lena to see her through her waves are a cruel taunt.

But now that Lena’s had all she can take, she's more than happy to help Kara get where she needs to be. Knowing how sensitive Kara is at the other end of that perfectly placed harness - Lena starts pushing down, hard, grinding her ass against Kara’s front as the strap buries even deeper, filling her completely. If she wasn’t already so satiated it might work her back up, but instead -

“Oh fuck...” Kara’s breath catches at the pressured stimulation as Lena rolls her hips and grinds even harder against her.

“ _Lena_ -“ Kara warns. Or begs. Lena isn’t quite sure which, and she smiles slightly to herself as she pushes down as hard as she can and grinds in small circles and -

“Oh God Lena-“ Kara leans back a little and can barely still hold herself up with the hand she has propped behind her, as Lena stays reverse cowgirl like she’s been the whole time, but now there’s space between her back and Kara’s chest as Kara loses control and grips the sheets with one hand and Lena’s hip with the other, tilting her own hips up, desperate to increase the pressure and reach her pinnacle as Lena grinds down so hard against Kara's pelvis, there's sure to be bruising, and - _FUCK_.

Kara’s seeing white.

She’s left gasping desperately after a moment as the wave crashes and she grabs Lena’s shoulder as Lena looks back over it and grins at the sight of a wrecked, red-faced Kara with eyes still clenched shut.

And Kara shudders, as the orgasm just keeps going, somehow building up again instead of coming down -

“Fuck keep going…” Kara barely whispers and swallows hard and Lena bites her lip and now she can’t help but feel worked up again.

“Fuck I’m coming again, Lena -“

“Oh God…” is all Lena can choke out as she’s in the same boat now, flushed head to toe from Kara’s declarations and the smell that fills the room so she pushes down and rocks and grinds one last series of times and -

They explode in a final shared orgasm.

And Lena’s somehow able to recover faster than Kara, who hasn’t fully come down from the intense wave just yet.

“ _God damn_ , Lena…” Kara jerks slightly, eyes still closed as she somehow still shudders in afterglow, voice trembling and body still quivering for severals moments after.

“You okay back there?” Lena asks with a smile, still a little breathless.

And then Kara finally breathes fully and falls back, eyes opening as she swallows against her dry throat.

“Fuck. That was - that was the hardest I’ve ever come...“

Kara tilts her head up to watch as Lena lets the soaked strap slip out while lifting off of Kara’s lap.

“ _Shit_.” Kara can only muster more expletives at the sight.

“I love you so fucking much.” she finishes, accenting with two handfuls of Lena’s plump behind, until Lena turns, straddling Kara again but this time while facing her. And before she can even fully lean down, one of Kara’s hands is cupping her face, the other swiping her raven locks back as she's tilting up to kiss her furiously, sloppy and full of passion and gratitude.

And Lena smiles into the kiss. She adores Kara’s declarations of love in the bedroom, but it’s partly because she showers her with them in normal moments as well. She makes her love clear to Lena constantly. Daily. Even at the most random, mundane times like when they’re watching a movie on the couch and she looks over and just says “ _I love you_.” or they’re walking through town hand-in-hand and Kara leans to say, “ _You’re the most beautiful woman in the world_.”

Though she does it so often, the declarations somehow still leave Lena surprised and blushing and feeling overwhelmed, even though it’s become such a constant, reliable, familiar thing. The only difference in bed is the added profanity and desperation. And she can’t help the fact that it fills her with a little pride to be the only one to ever make Kara come so undone, to make her want her again and again, considering Kara’s history of “one and done” with both men and women.

Truly, Lena knows she and Kara will never be done.

Lena drags her lips from Kara’s and slides down to rest against her body as they both catch their breath.

“You need water as much as I do?” Lena jokes.

“Nah, I need... I need _ice cream_.”

Lena chuckles against Kara’s chest, “What?”

“Chocolate. I need chocolate ice cream. With syrup.” Kara says with a seriousness that makes Lena grin and shake her head, as Kara stares up past her, at the ceiling fan swooping in dull rotations.

“Earth to Kara.” she jests, lightly tapping a finger near her collar bone.

“Hm?” Kara says, snapping out of it and smiling when she sees how Lena’s beaming.

“Hm.” Lena playfully mocks as she pulls back and Kara bites her lower lip while she watches a nude Lena climb from bed and slowly sway round hips towards the kitchen.

Lena walked around naked more in the short time she’d been with Kara than she had the rest of her life combined. The hungry way Kara stared at her was the fuel she needed to have the confidence to do it. The way Kara worshipped her body. The way she loved her every soft spot no matter the shape or size, looking at her like she was a goddess in human form, a phrase Kara actually used once - it made Lena love her body in a new way she never had before. It's not like she ever _hated_ it, certainly, but she never _loved_ it. Until now. Of course the only thing she loved more was _Kara’s_ body, perfect and sculpted, bound by perfect olive skin and the scars she wore like battle wounds.

“We’re out of ice cream.” Lena sinks once she reaches the fridge, “And syrup."

“Well - then get dressed." Kara huffs, "‘Cause we’re goin’ to the store.” she finishes as she whips damp sheets off herself and leaps up with an abundance of energy. _Way_ too much energy for what they’d just done. Lena's joked before that it’s like she’s fallen in love with an Energizer Bunny, and it’s true.

Kara just keeps _going and going_ …

——-

It’s late, and the store is practically barren as the two make their way down the aisles. Kara walks a step behind her, and can’t help but smirk at Lena’s wobbling legs, almost rolling an ankle when she reaches to grab the chocolate syrup off the shelf. Lena feels the stare.

“Shut up, it’s your fault.”

Kara turns her back towards Lena, “If you wanna hop on, I'll carry you.”

But Lena instead just pushes her and Kara laughs, deep and hearty - a sound Lena loves. When she tries to shove her a second time for added humor -

Kara turns and snatches her wrist and forcibly wraps herself around Lena with an imposing strength which Lena doesn’t fight at all.

And they kiss, gentle but lingering.

That was a new development as well, Lena not caring at all about public displays of affection that had previously made her so nervous. After she almost lost Kara, she wanted nothing more than to hold and kiss and touch Kara every second of every day, and let her do the same as she desired. Nothing was ever held back anymore, for either of them.

Kara pulls back and takes a deep breath and sighs in contentment. Then she opens her mouth to speak - but nothing comes out.

“What?” Lena asks, curiously, studying her hesitation.

“You know I was serious when I said I was going to marry you.”

Lena looks deeply into her eyes, both of them thinking back to that day on the beach, after her fingers had made Lena lose all control of her brain. A small smile curls at her lips.

“I know.”

Lena has zero doubt. And she has zero doubt she’s going to marry Kara. When? Well, that was for them to figure out another time. Because right now - Kara wanted ice cream, and by gosh they were going to get it for her. She gives Kara a playful tug and they turn and keep walking.

“I want to get a pet.” Kara blurts, suddenly.

Lena rolls her eyes with humored irritation, “Oh, I knew you volunteering at the shelter would lead to bad things.”

“An animal is never a bad thing.”

“No, just a very _needy_ thing.”

Kara ignores her, too busy thinking on all the possibilities. 

“Let’s get a dog, one that's just like Haukea. Or - a cat. Ruby has cat and it's the cutest thing I've ever seen.” Kara stops, “Let’s get a dog and a cat.”

Lena just shakes her head and pulls Kara on as they round the corner and finally arrive to the freezer section.

“Ohhh this. We gotta get this one, they’re usually out.” she says reaching for something that makes Lena cringe.

“Avocado ice cream?” Lena asks.

“I swear on it.”

“It’s _avocado_ -” Lena says.

Kara pauses her movement after snatching a single pint.

“- _ice cream_.” Lena finishes.

“It’s chocolate, and it’s amazing.” Kara then squints and chuckles at her, “Since when do you not trust my tastes?”

“Since you picked up avocado ice cream.”

“Hm.” Kara mocks.

And then she remains behind, putting the avocado ice cream back as she watches Lena step further away and talk about the classic perfection of Ben & Jerry’s. Her back is turned as she puts a pint into the basket on her arm. But when she turns to reach for a chocolatey flavor she thinks Kara might like -

Kara’s arm extends past her, just before she gets a hand on it.

And in front of the pint of chocolate Ben & Jerry’s, at eye level with Lena’s emeralds -

A platinum band lined with black diamonds.

Lena’s lips part, breath temporarily knocked out, causing a smokey puff from the frozen air.

But it's only for a moment. Because she’s eerily calm as Kara speaks, “I have another one just like it.”

Lena slowly turns to look at Kara, hovering so close they might as well be standing inside the freezer.

Blue holds green, intensely.

“I don’t want to spend another day as anything but your wife.” Kara tells her.

And the moment she gets the last word out -

Lena’s kissing her, dropping the basket to the floor so she can wrap her arms around Kara’s neck and pull her body tightly against hers.

And when they finally part and Kara searches her eyes for a confirmation she already knows she has, Lena grins, “Me neither.”

And again their lips meet.

——-

That night they consume their fill of ice cream - and then they consume each other yet again, slow and gentle, a promise of forever lingering in the air as Kara covers Lena’s entire body in kisses and declarations of praise and affection, half in Hawaiian, half in English - and all of it in pure love.

By 3 a.m. they’re both fast asleep, with Lena wrapped in Kara’s arms.

Their plan is to wake early tomorrow like any other day, Kara catch some waves like any other day, and they have breakfast like any other day -

Then they'll drive to the courthouse downtown and get married.

On the way home from the store, Kara had asked Lena if she was sure about the haste, assuring her they could have the wedding of their dreams if that’s what she wanted, with her walking down the aisle to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” by Israel Kamakawiwoʻole as they’d hoped. But Lena had simply replied, “ _All I want is you_.”

And that was that.

And the plan was set.

Kara suddenly stirs, then her body jerks and she wakes with a slight gasp. She frowns deeply but is calmed and comforted by the feeling of Lena shifting slightly in her arms. Without waking her, Kara places a gentle kiss on Lena’s bare shoulder before climbing from the bed.

She pulls on a pair of shorts and blue flannel that she leaves fully open before walking to the window. She slides the large glass door to the side and steps out onto the porch, hit immediately by a thick Pacific breeze as she peers out to the crashing whitecaps. But there’s something in her gaze, the furrowed contours of her face shadowed by the moonlight. Something weighted, almost concerned.

“Hey.” rasps sleepily as Lena’s arms slip around her from behind, sliding into the opening of her shirt as she cross them at Kara’s stomach, thumbs gently stroking at her abs as she kisses the back of Kara’s neck.

But rather than softening at her touch, Kara remains firm for a moment, and Lena picks up on it.

“What’s wrong?” she asks quietly. 

A moment passes as Kara’s head tilts a bit as if she’s sensing - _something_. Something that bothers her, but she can’t quite figure out exactly what it is.

So instead she just lets herself relax in Lena’s arms, as finally she turns to face her.

“Nothing. Nothing at all.” she assures as she wipes a loose strand from Lena’s face and tucks it behind her ear.

“By this time tomorrow, you’ll be my wife.”

Lena smiles.

And there they remain, foreheads leaning to meet as their bodies sway together in the breeze.

——-


	2. Chapter 2

Cereal bowl in hand and hair still damp from the morning surf, Kara stares at Lena from across the small kitchen, doing her not-so-best to hold back a slight smirk as Lena sits on a stool at the island, sipping coffee and fiddling with fruit while checking her phone.

“Don’t.” Lena warns with barely a glance.

“I didn’t say anything.” Kara shrugs innocently.

“It’s not what you’re saying, it’s what you’re thinking.”

“You don’t know what I’m thinking.”

“Love, when you look at me like that I know _exactly_ what you’re thinking.” she says with an added thickness to her slight accent for emphasis.

Kara fully smiles now, a devilish and unabashedly seductive glint in her piercing blue eyes.

“Just doing the math.” she says.

“The math?” Lena asks as she lifts the mug.

“Whether I have time to eat you out before we go.”

Lena chokes on her sip.

Kara silently chuckles while Lena flushes but tries to compose, “I don’t have time to take another shower, so rain check on that. _Definitely_.” she flushes a deeper, wanting shade at the thought. “But we should go."

Kara audibly, sarcastically sighs.

“ _Fine_. I guess we’ll go get _married_.” she says dramatically as if it’s a pain as she puts her bowl in the sink and steps over, leaning down to kiss Lena. It’s intended to be a peck. But when Lena puts hands to her cheeks and pulls her back in, it becomes something deeper. Something languid and full of promise.

“You ready?” Kara asks after they finally part.

“Kara I was ready the first time I saw you on that beach.”

Kara stares into her eyes dreamily. And hungrily. She glances down and watches her own hands glide up and down Lena’s waist, eventually to rest at her hips. “Keep saying things like that you’re gonna have to take another shower.”

Lena grins into Kara’s next kiss. And then Kara drops her hand to separate Lena’s knees. But Lena keeps them tightly clenched. “ _Uh-uh_.” Lena warns, giving Kara a slight push back at her chest.

Kara lets loose a playfully frustrated grunt and snatches the hand that shoved her, gently pulling Lena off the stool.

“Come on then, future Mrs. —“ Kara pauses, her head cocking curiously, unsure what name Lena would want to take, if any.

“Luthor-Danvers.” Lena answers.

“Huh.” Kara grins, almost bashfully.

“You wanted me to just take Danvers?”

“No, actually I... wanted to be Danvers-Luthor.”

“Yeah?” Lena says surprised and honored, before an idea strikes her.

“Well then let’s both take each others' as hyphenates." Lena says, matter of fact. "Equal footing.” 

Kara considers this only momentarily, with a mischievous bite of her lip.

“Yeah, okay.”

“Yeah?” Lena asks to be sure.

“Hell yeah.” Kara grins broadly as their lips meet in the middle.

——-

They drive across the island, heading for downtown Honolulu.

The whole way there, Lena can’t take her eyes off of Kara, her blonde hair flowing in the wind and toned olive skin baked in fresh morning light. They both decided to wear normal clothes and just be themselves, and Lena is grateful. The simplicity and ease of her relationship with Kara and everything they do is like being on vacation 24/7. Nothing about her life feels like work. Not even her work. She’d stayed moderately busy since the article about Kara had come out and everyone had praised her photography. She wasn’t short on opportunities or responsibilities by any means, yet still - she felt relaxed and happy every moment of every day, which was a very new feeling for her. Gone were the endless meetings and stressful deadlines of overseeing a popular digital magazine. Now, all she had to do was show up, do what she loves at a shoot, then return home to work on edits before submitting them to whatever client or outlet had hired her.

The biggest obstacle for Lena was getting Kara to stop interrupting her while editing, usually with food, fun or kisses. Mostly kisses. And fingers. And _tongue_. Truly, the most distracting part about Kara was how insanely good she made her feel. Inside _and_ out. But of course it was a _nice_ distraction to have.

Lena lifts her camera and snaps a pic of Kara driving, jaw set and brow furrowed as she focuses on the road and future ahead, driving with purpose. As if nothing is going to stop her from marrying Lena. There was so often something almost… _handsome_ , about Kara Danvers. Yet her long flowy hair and feminine form balanced her entire vibe so perfectly and attractively.

When Kara hears the click, she turns and grins while putting a hand up to playfully block another shot. “You’re gonna be like this all day, aren’t you?”

Lena just smiles and takes another shot as the answer, though Kara lets it happen without protest because for Kara - anything Lena wants, Lena gets. She’d insisted she wanted to bring her camera to capture the big day. Considering how they knew both Sam and Alex and everyone else they knew would react to missing it, Kara was more than happy for Lena to do just that. Still, Kara couldn’t help being a little camera shy from time to time, and Lena found it insanely adorable and endearing how the most radiating, photogenic, free-spirited person she’d ever known could sometimes suddenly turn camera shy.

When they reach a fork in the road and Kara rolls to a stop, she reaches over and playfully snatches the camera from Lena, snapping a quick shot of a grinning, curiously frowning Lena.

“You need to be in these too, you know.” Kara says, so Lena yields, takes off her sunglasses and looks right at her with a smirk as Kara leans back to put a little more distance between them for the perfect shot.

Then Kara lowers the camera without taking her eyes off of Lena.

“God, uʻi ‘oe.” And Lena can’t help but let her heart swell, knowing by now, because Kara’s said it so often, that "uʻi ‘oe" means “ _you’re beautiful_ ” in Hawaiian.

And if it wasn’t for the fact that they’re currently sitting there in the open on a main road where another car would approach at any moment, Lena might’ve pushed that camera between them aside and climbed right onto Kara.

“But the shot is terrible, sorry.” she says handing the camera back over.

Lena checks and chuckles, “Kara what are you talking about, it’s lovely.”

“The _subject_ is lovely. But the photo - it’s nothing compared to the way you capture things. You’re _brilliant_ Lena. You’re going to do amazing things, and I can’t wait to have a front row seat.”

Lena’s touched by Kara’s endless confidence and support in her.

“ _As long as we both shall live_.” Lena assures with a grin.

Kara smiles and shifts the car back into gear and Lena’s hand lands on hers and their fingers intertwine as they take off again.

Driving down the long road to downtown - Kara lifts Lena’s hand while it’s clamped onto hers and kisses the top of it.

She does the same gesture twice more before they ever even make it to their destination, because Kara soon to be Danvers-Luthor just can’t keep her lips off of Lena soon to be Luthor-Danvers.

——-

Lena leans against the wall by the counter window and watches as Kara scribbles her chicken scratch excuse for handwriting into the first applicant box. Midway through she adjusts the glasses on her face. She only wears them to read, or write a marriage license application apparently, but Lena always smiles when she does.

“I love you in glasses.” Lena offers suddenly.

Kara just grins, never looking up as she keeps filling her portion out, “Sexy nerd does it for you, huh?”

The clerk shifts awkwardly. Lena looks a tad embarrassed but Kara doesn’t even flinch at the reaction, never one to care a single bit what anyone else thinks.

She finishes by signing her name quick and rather sloppy autograph style, then pushes the paper closer to Lena as she skillfully twirls the pen between those strong, talented fingers and extends it with a slight smile and loving depth in her gaze that makes Lena want to cry. Or kiss her. _Maybe both_.

“You’re up.” Kara says.

Lena takes the pen and swallows as she looks at the empty box awaiting her, as Kara steps around her so they switch places and Lena can be in front of the clerk’s window while Kara leans on the wall. Despite the fact that Lena wants this more than she’s ever wanted anything - something about the gravity of it all, of how much her life has changed in a mere couple months and for the rest of her life would continue to look so much more differently than she’d ever imagined, but certainly not dreamed - strikes her suddenly. Her breath catches and hand trembles ever so slightly before she can begin to write.

“Hey.” comes that familiar tone Kara offers every so often, the single word laced with whatever Lena needs in the moment, nothing more required to be said with it.

Kara’s hand lands gently on Lena’s, and she shifts to stand so close that her chest is at Lena’s back. Lena feels Kara take a deliberate deep breath, and instinctively, without hesitation, she breathes with her, matching the pace of her calm, slow breath in. Then out. And Kara waits. She doesn’t say anything. She doesn’t have to. She doesn’t have to ask or wonder or worry about second thoughts or cold feet. She knows Lena just needs a moment, and she simply wanted to let her know she’s there for her through it, giving her the time she needs -

To write Lena Kieran Luthor in the second applicant box.

Kara’s hand slides off and she steps back to resume her place against the wall again, tilting her head against it as she dreamily watches Lena fill her portion out with her fancy, purposeful handwriting. And then sign her name, in rather impressively perfect cursive.

Lena looks over at Kara and they share a smile as Lena pushes the competed paperwork towards the clerk.

A couple minutes later, they’re handed a copy. And Lena’s forcing them to take a selfie with it, each with a hand holding one side as Lena’s other arm extends the camera away from them and snaps the pic.

As the clerk tells Kara they can head upstairs for the justice to perform the ceremony, Lena checks the viewer to see the photo they just took and she can’t help but smile when she finds out Kara wasn’t even looking at the camera or the license, she was just looking at Lena with a loving gaze that fills Lena’s heart with a warmth unlike any she's ever known. Just seeing Kara's love for her on film, it almost takes her breath away. 

And then Kara’s hand slips into hers and pulls her on.

“C’mon LD.”

Lena chuckles, “Coming, _DL_.”

Kara grimaces at the nickname, “Yeah, we’ll have to rethink that.” 

They share the laugh as Kara punches the elevator button.

Just as it DINGS and the doors open up - 

Kara’s phone starts to BUZZ and ALERT. She frowns curiously, digging it out of her pants pocket to check just as she’s about to be pulled into the open elevator by Lena.

Lena gives her arm an accidental tug when Kara remains firmly planted, stopping them both.

“What it is?” Lena chuckles.

But Kara’s suddenly pale face and furrowed brow halts all mirth.

“Kara?” Lena asks curiously - until her own phone BUZZES and ALERTS next and she digs it out. And then she sees -

\- the EMERGENCY ALERT.

MAUNA LOA QUAKE. WEST FLANK INTO SEA. TSUNAMI DANGER FOR ALL OF OAHU. GO TO HIGH GROUND OR MOVE INLAND IMMEDIATELY. HONOLULU BE ADVISED. ETA 10 MINUTES.

“Wait Mauna Loa, the volcano? Is it erupting? What does it mean ‘west flank into sea’?” Lena’s questions come rapid fire.

Then she really starts to panic when SIRENS begin to ring out all around them and a speaker system activates overhead, with someone instructing all guests and staff to please head to the roof, “calmly but immediately”.

Of course no one is calm. People start to freak out and brush past them, sprinting for the stairwell. 

“Kara?” Lena asks of her, still confused and increasingly concerned. But Kara’s mind is elsewhere.

 _This was it._ This is what Kara felt last night. She _sensed_ this coming. Sometimes she hated being such an empath, so in tune with the Earth beneath her feet. Sometimes she just didn't want to know...

Kara’s hand tightens around Lena’s like steel. But instead of dragging her to the stairs -

She pulls Lena back towards the building entrance. 

“Kara, what are you doing?” Lena asks as Kara stuffs the marriage license into her back pocket while they hurry down the short flight of stairs in front of the building and emerge onto the street where more people rush about in a panic.

“We gotta go. We gotta get to the hospital.”

“Alex will be fine, Kara, they said we should -“ Lena starts, pointing back at the building.

Kara halts and turns, right in Lena’s face, closely so she understands the gravity, her voice dropping to an imperative, desperate tone.

“West flank breaking off means over three hundred cubic miles of rock just fell into the sea, Lena. The _wave_ that will cause -“

She looks past Lena, up to the top of building they just fled, which stands at an imposing four stories, yet Kara insists, nearly breathless -

“It’s not high enough.”

Lena’s stomach drops and she turns more pale than she already is.

“Come on.” Kara pulls her onward.

 _THWACK_ \- a sprinting man SLAMS right into Lena, almost knocking her clean over, but Kara spins in time to catch her before she can strike the ground, hand never leaving its protective grasp in Lena’s.

“Hey! Careful!” Kara barks after the asshole who almost flattened her.

“It’s okay, I’m fine.” Lena assures, though she’s trembling once again, only this time from pure fear thanks to the look on the man’s face as he hurried on past. It's the same look that's on _everyone’s_ faces.

Except Kara's. Kara looks more determined than anything. Focused. It’s an unsurprising comfort to Lena who pulls and huddles her body against Kara’s as she awaits Kara's next decision. 

It’s chaos all around as Kara quickly pulls them into a jog, heading for her jeep, parallel-parked at a meter several yards ahead.

But then Kara notices the way everyone in the city, its streets filled with morning rush hour traffic, starts to make panicked, selfish, _horrible_ decisions.

The sounds of CRASHING CARS, HONKS, and PROFANITY now rings out all around them, echoing throughout downtown as terrified masses are trying to get out of the city and flee north, with no regard for order. Kara turns and discovers that in every direction -

Is a pile up. They’re trapped here. No way Kara’s vehicle is going to be useful now.

Kara spins and squints into the distance until she spots their intended destination - the hospital. At 10 stories, it's the closest building tall enough to provide any hope of survival. Office buildings and condos extend much further up, but they’re too far away and there's no way they'd reach one in time. 

Still, the hospital is at least 15 blocks away.

Kara checks the time on her phone. Three minutes have somehow already passed since the alert.

They’ve got SEVEN MINUTES.

Kara sets her timer for SIX.

“We gotta go. And Lena -“ she grips a strong paw at Lena’s cheek forcing eye contact. “ _We have to run_.”

The look in Kara’s steely blues says all Lena needs to know about the gravity of the situation.

Before she can even think or worry further -

They’re practically flying, sprinting onward as fast as possible, hand-in-hand.

As they run, Lena now attempts to do her _own_ math in her head, trying to figure out how many blocks are in a mile and the result isn’t good because it means there’s at least a mile to this journey. She then tries to remember the last time she clocked how quickly she can run a mile, and she prays her memory of eight and a half minutes isn't accurate. She doesn’t have eight and a half minutes. _No one does._

As her lungs start to burn and body begins to hurt while they cut in and out of parked traffic and rushing crowds, previous worry of reaching safety in time begins to fade -

As Kara’s pace and pull of her hand keeps them plowing ahead at a speed she’d otherwise never reach on her own. They move so fast the camera on her neck has spun around to her back as it bounces on the leather strap behind her.

At some point, the cacophony of honking and yelling and chaos around them melts away and all she can register is the sound of her own panting breath and speedy pulse pounding in her ears. And somewhere in the background, the muffled wail of still blaring warning sirens. And all she sees is Kara’s sun kissed locks flowing ahead.

Kara never looks back, because she doesn’t need to. Her hand is a vice grip on Lena’s and it would take all the Earth’s power to pull them apart.

But soon Lena’s body is tiring and her lungs feel ready to burst. She thanks a God she still isn’t sure exists that Kara is back to athlete shape, otherwise they’d have no hope.

Kara pushes ahead further and further, skillfully dodging any obstacles or people in their way, determined to get Lena to safety. But then suddenly Kara feels the slightest tug of an attempted slow down by Lena behind her. But Kara doesn’t even miss a step, doesn’t let it slow her, and she certainly she look back. She just barks, “KEEP GOING! DON’T TURN AROUND!”

And as they draw closer to the tall white medical building, now only a few blocks away and with only two minutes to spare -

Lena makes a mistake.

She turns her head ever so slightly. And what was once a muffled echo of surrounding noises silenced by her own breathing and pulse and pounding heart and striking boot heels on concrete, now fully registers as SCREAMS of terror and a ROAR of something unlike anything she's ever heard before.

And that’s when she unfortunately, _regretfully_ spots the source -

The nearly thirty-five foot wall of water plowing its way across the island, an endless freight train of destruction, closer and closer like something out of a disaster movie, a sinister monster consuming everything in its path, tearing across the plush green topography. Only this is not a movie. This is very, _very_ real.

And it’s coming for them.

An impending doom.

A certain death.

…Unless they can reach the hospital in time.


	3. Chapter 3

Alex had checked her phone exactly thirty seconds after the buzzing began. She’d been in the middle of examining an x-ray for an unidentifiable mass and initially ignored the alert, figuring it likely just one of the frequent emergency tests she’d long ago become accustomed to, having grown up on the island, when she’d noticed everyone around her start to speak in hushed, then increasingly louder, panicked tones.

A mere four minutes later -

The place was a madhouse as fellow doctors, nurses, technicians and even custodial workers were all scrambling to help get patients to the top two floors. It was chaos. It was _terrifying_.

After helping organize and direct the flow of traffic in an effort to preserve some semblance of order, Alex eventually wound up herself wheeling an elderly woman's bed into the long line at the elevator of the patients and staff waiting to head up while those who could walk were shuffled or even carried by hand up flight after flight of stairs. As her heart had raced faster and faster while time ticked by, all Alex could initially think of - was her sister.

“Stay with her.” she'd quickly barked to the old woman’s adult granddaughter who looked terrified at the events unfolding, “It won’t take long!” she then assured more kindly with a quick, forced smile.

And then she took her phone back out for the tenth time and shaky hands tried to text Kara, and that scared her even more because if there was one thing Alex was known for - it was steady hands. But before she could think of what to send - _a warning, assurance, or goodbye_... someone had suddenly yelled for help and she'd turned to find two female nurses, quite small in stature, trying to help a very tall man into the stairwell at the end of the hall. Alex quickly stuffed her phone away and instead just internally prayed that Kara was at her house, which was much further North. As she rushed over and yanked the man’s arm over her shoulder and gave a huffing lift to help him to safety, she did the math and prayed that the mega tsunami heading for the island would be nothing more than a flood by the time it reached Kara’s bungalow.

 _Mega tsunami_. Alex had repeated the absurd, SyFy channel-sounding term in her head to distract herself from her increasingly tiring legs as they headed up the final two flights while she checked the time on her watch, which reflected THREE MINUTES until impact.

A couple years ago, she and Kara had watched a National Geographic documentary on natural disasters together. In particular - _cataclysmic, once in a millennia disasters_. And what was happening now was exactly, and unbelievably, one of them. At the time, they had jokingly talked about what they would do if it happened, particularly what they’d do in their final minutes if they knew it was coming. Alex had said she’d drink heavily and call everyone she loved, while Kara said she hoped it hit while she was in bed and she'd be none the wiser. Alex had said sure, sleeping through it might be nicest way to go, until Kara corrected that she didn’t mean _sleeping_ and Alex had practically pushed her off the couch in disgust as Kara just cackled.

But they never took the threat seriously, obviously. Not really. Sure, they knew living on the island brought a certain set of inherent dangers and, as drilled into them from a young age by military families, they had plans in place for all sorts of crises and events. But this? This was something unlikely. Something that, in their minds, would never actually happen, at least not to them. Around them. In this place. This beautiful place they both called home. A place she’d recently considered inviting Kelly to join her in. She knew her planned pitch for Kelly moving to Oahu from Seattle the way Lena had moved from Los Angeles for Kara had now became infinitely harder. _And that’s if she lived._

The thought had sent Alex’s mind reeling again as she’d huffed her way further up with the man. She wanted nothing more than to call her sister and make sure she was alright. To call Kelly and possibly say goodbye. Thankfully her parents were visiting friends in Kauai so they would be spared, at most seeing minor floods. But Oahu, or in particular Honolulu? Was about to be wiped off the map. And yet all Alex could think about was never again seeing the incredible woman she’d recently let into her heart, and possibly losing the amazing younger sister who anchored her soul. The sister she’d almost lost twice already, three times if she counted the accident that claimed Kara’s parents as kids before they became sisters but were still best friends. The most recent time ironically would have happened had it not been for said incredible girlfriend who, at the time only a stranger, helped save Kara’s life that day at the cliffs. The cruel irony of that and her current circumstance, yet _again_ worrying about Kara’s safety, had begun to wash over her and threatened to spill from her eyes…

Until Alex knocked herself out of the pity party. She resigned that she simply had to trust that Kara was far enough inland and would stay safe, and she instead had to make sure _she_ stayed alive for _her_. She was not going to be yet someone else Kara lost. There was no way in hell. Not after her endless hours of therapy with Kelly that helped Kara process her numerous past traumas and move beyond the shadow of that once existent "curse" she'd so strongly believed in until it was broken that day with Lena. _Lena_. The name had run, if not almost stung, in Alex's mind, because she knew Kara would do anything to keep Lena safe in the midst of what was happening. And it both made her proud, and scared the hell out of her. Because saving Lena once before almost claimed Kara's life and she knew given any threat to it again, Kara wouldn't hesitate to risk herself again. Because that's just who Kara was. She was brave and selfless. And reckless. All of those things were what Alex loved so much about Kara, but also what sometimes kept her up at night.

Still, she couldn't go there. Not anymore. It was too much.

So now, with only two minutes left until estimated impact - Alex forcibly snapped herself out of the bad thoughts once again. _"Kara's fine. She's miles north of here. She's close to higher elevation. She'll be just fine. And Lena never leaves her side so she'll be fine too. They'll both be just fine."_ she repeated to herself. And so will she. She has to be. For Kara.

So her legs push harder and faster, practically single-handedly bringing the large mass of a man the final distance to the 9th floor, handing him off to awaiting orderlies just on the other side of the door before turning and yelling down the stairs below at the last few people rushing up flight after flight to —

——-

“Hurry, come on!” Kara barks with a breathless depth that scares Lena, but also fuels her sprint.

They were almost there. Almost to the hospital. _Just one more block._

The SCREAMS they leave in the path behind them become deafening, until Lena can’t hear them anymore and she only briefly has to wonder why, until she realizes the ROAR of the tsunami was - quite literally - drowning them out. But this time, she was not going to let herself look back.

Even without seeing it, from the crashing, terrifying sounds and mental images alone… Lena wants to be sick. She wants to cry. She wants to just stop right there with Kara and throw her body against her and hug her one last time. But more than that - she wants to _survive_. She wants more than one last hug, more than one last kiss. She doesn’t want last night to be the last time Kara makes love to her and whispers those gentle declarations into her ears or huffs those profane things against her skin as she draws ecstasy from the center of Lena’s very being and consumes her, body and soul. She wants thousands upon thousands of more tomorrows with Kara. She wants the future she was promised when Kara extended that ring last night. She wants their forever.

And Kara, ever the protective, gallant woman of her dreams, _no_ \- the woman who exceeded anything she could have ever even begun to conceptualize in her wildest dreams - was doing everything she could to ensure they had just that. So Lena knows she can’t give in to the ache in her knee or the burning in her lungs or the fear tightening in her chest. She has to keep running. She has to believe her hero can save them.

As they now, _finally_ , break around the last corner and have the hospital in sight —

Kara spots a woman, clutching her two small children, frozen in fear with a tearful look in her eyes of guilt and shame that she can’t figure out how save her own children - staring beyond Kara and Lena at the grand wall of water that looms at their backs.

And Kara, ever ever the protective, gallant woman that exceeds her wildest dreams -

Takes a slight step left reaching out towards the woman, snatching the larger of the two children up under one arm while never releasing Lena’s hand with the other, “COME ON!” she bellows and that’s all the woman needs to snap out of it, her eyes momentarily meeting Lena’s in the middle of their sprinted haste as Kara SHOULDERS the revolving door entrance so hard Lena swears she hears the glass crack as the three of them fill one slot and the woman and smaller child are in the very next one behind them.

“GO GO GO!” Kara orders the moment they're clear of the door and they all make a straight line for the stairwell door across the lobby. 

Behind them, the unforgiving wall of water DEMOLISHES the buildings a block away, its impact tearing right through aged construction.

The spot they’d just fled past merely twenty seconds before was now under thirty-five feet of water.

And then the sky suddenly gets dark, the atrium-style lobby with floor-to-ceiling windows now cast in its dooming shadow.

They somehow make it across the lobby in time, _somehow_ reaching the stair door, _just_ as the impact STRIKES, sending glass exploding like a bomb through ice, an infinite amount of deadly shards chased by an infinite amount of water - and Kara gets a split second glimpse of it as she spins and yanks the heavy door shut behind them.

They’re only one flight up when they feel the building tremble from the impact, shaken to its core, threatening to tear into pieces like all the others - and if it does Kara knows it's over. It'll be over for anybody in the building because losing its base will send the remaining floors crumbling over into the raging, violent sea that now consumes the city.

The quiver of the structure causes the mother to stumble, her foot missing the next step and her ankle twists and she falls hard, landing as best she can on her own arm instead of the smaller child in her grasp.

She yelps out in pain and Kara barks over shoulder for her to “ _Come on, keep going!_ ”.

But the woman cries out, “I CAN’T!” followed quickly by a desperate plea -

\- “TAKE HIM, GO!” she says pushing the child up towards Kara and Lena. Lena’s eyes go wide in horror until Kara, reluctantly, despite promising herself she never would, lets her hand pull away from Lena's so she can instead use it to harshly grab the woman by the back of the collar, yanking her up and letting loose a profane order with a furious grit of desperation, forcing the woman's cooperation before they _all_ die. 

“ _No, please..._ ” the woman begs, almost stumbling again from the pain and now Kara realizes she can’t leave the smaller child in the woman’s arms in case she falls again or falls behind.

“Lena-” Kara says quickly in a way that Lena knows exactly what she's asking, and without hesitation Lena opens her hands to receive the small child the moment Kara turns to hand him to her, followed by a snapped, echoing “ _GO_!”

And as the building continues to rumble around them, Lena does just that -

She sprints up step after step with the screaming child in her arms, pressed against the camera that somehow found its way back to the front of her chest again. She pays no attention to the child’s cries or the trembling vibrations of the walls around them. She listens past those horrors and instead hones in on the only sound that can keep her going - the heavy breathing and determined steps of Kara behind her. She’s right on Lena’s heels somehow, with the larger child still tucked under a strong arm like one of her heavy surfboards, while she forcibly drags the whimpering, practically blubbering mother up and forward with her other tight fist.

They reach the third floor by the time the lobby level door finally gives into the pressure and BURSTS open, an EXPLOSION of water blasting into the stairwell two stories below.

Kara briefly looks at the rumbling door to their side as they rush past it. All she can do is hope _it_ doesn’t break. Hope _none_ of the other doors on the next three floors break. Because Kara knows -

They’re underwater. Right now. All five of them are actually _under water_ , the only barrier between remaining alive vs drowning are the four claustrophobic walls currently surrounding them.

But that won’t last long as the rising floodwaters make frightening chase from below.

Kara knows that outside, the wave’s overall swell probably reaches to the fifth floor, the building itself’s flooding likely to eventually reach even higher due to the fact that the water has nowhere to go but up as it fills corridors and elevators shafts and yes - stairwells. 

Just like it does now - at an increasingly, terrifyingly fast pace.

Lena’s stomach threatens to drop when she hears a barely audible “ _fuck_ ” escape Kara’s usually composed lips.

In a flash Lena turns and looks down past Kara and sees the water quickly rising at a speed they can't possibly outrun.

“Run, Lena! RUN!” Kara barks one last time.

And Lena pushes on one last time with everything she has left, the throb of her own pulse drowning out the only thing she was trying to hear. Or maybe it’s the sound of rushing water at their heels. But either way, she can’t hear the comforting, encouraging sound of Kara behind her anymore and it terrifies her, but Kara’s previous order to run echoes again and again in her mind.

The moment Lena makes the last broad stride up and plants feet at the fifth floor, the water now having risen in a blink, now just a couple flights below -

The third floor door bursts next, which only increases the rising flow to be even faster, and even more violent.

Kara knows they’re out of time. She knows they can’t outrun the swell any longer and she knows their only hope is that her estimate was right.

“THE DOOR!” she yells and Lena doesn’t even hesitate.

She just trusts Kara, clenching the crying child in her arms with everything she has left -

As she pushes the door open - and steps into open, dry air on the fifth floor, gasping in shock and exhaustion, until her breath catches at the next sound of a BURST -

She turns just as Kara is literally yanking and shoving the mother on up ahead of her, sending the woman diving through the open door above -

\- as the fourth floor door blasts right off its hinges behind Kara.

Lena’s mouth drops at the sight of Kara. Kara who’s still got that child in her arms. Kara who’s still too many steps below. Kara who’s only barely past the fourth floor door when it exploded open, and the swell now lurches for her -

\- passing her heels as she steps higher, then blasting past her calves as she steps further, then tugging at her waist as she pushes harder - 

Lena wants to leap back from the impending rush of water heading their way, but she also can’t move as the mother lands at her feet. She can’t do anything but watch in horror, as her current reality morphs to slow motion. 

And Kara, face gritted in a final burst of determination, reaches for the handle on the door while at the same time she HEAVES the child at them, _just_ as the wall of water splashes up like a monster wave opening its mouth to first consume Kara and then eventually drown the rest of them when the entire fifth floor inevitably floods, just like all the others had already done below.

But the moment the child crosses the threshold, landing in his mother’s desperately outstretched arms -

Blue makes brief, apologetic contact with green.

As Kara YANKS the door shut between them.

Lena can’t even choke out a full cry of her name, her voice silenced by the sickening sound of the SLAMMING THUD of Kara’s body striking the other side of the door, metal bending inward towards them from the sheer, brutal force of impact.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You're probably thinking "Is this person really stopping for a smut break?" Why yes, yes I am. Because it's about more than smut. It's about connection. Hot connection, ahem, but connection none the less. ;) You'll see.

Kara and Lena had always had an uncanny ability to communicate with mere eye contact. More than any normal connection. More than is typical between even the most in-tune of partners. Others had even come to notice and comment on it. Alex once teasingly told Kara, “It’s like you two have entire, in-depth conversations without saying a word. It’s creepy.”

And it was entirely true, and then some. They spoke so much sometimes with so little. And their bodies of course moved in constant sync with each other. Little moments, gestures and steps would somehow align in a perfect mirror to one another. It’s perhaps why their lovemaking was so monumentally mind-blowing. Beyond Kara’s obvious and absurdly ridiculous skills, it’s as if the two of them were built specifically for each other. They fit together. They moved together. They _breathed_ together. A simple touch could guide the other, and a mere glance could communicate an entire universe of emotion.

Like in those first weeks Kara was home from the hospital and recovering. The shock and trauma to her body had been so extensive, it initially made her so weak she couldn’t even stand up for more than a couple seconds, let alone walk or care for herself. Only once in the beginning, the first day home, had Kara tried to be tough and assure Lena she could handle it, as if she didn’t want to be a burden. But Lena had responded by taking Kara’s face in hand.

“You are the strongest person I’ve ever known, Kara.” she’d told her before leaning in close to her ear as if a secret between the two of them, “Let me be strong for you now. It’s only for a little while, love.”

It was the first time she’d called her love. And Kara had softened and from that moment on allowed her to help with everything. Even embarrassing things like changing clothes, getting to the toilet, and bathing.

So after two weeks, as Kara had sat soaking in the tub after a particularly trying day, head tilted tiredly to the side - she’d stared up at Lena in the doorway. And they’d just remained like that. Still. Quiet. The short length of the bathroom between them as they gazed into each other’s eyes. Kara’s gratitude for everything Lena had been doing for her had come through without a word in that moment. It was obvious that, thanks to Lena’s caring yet respectful treatment, Kara had felt no shame, no judgement, no feeling of being a burden… she felt nothing at all but pure affection. And she gave it in return the only way she could at the time, with her deep blue eyes. As Kara’s nude body bathed the warmth of fragrant oils and epsom salt which Lena was convinced would help the healing process, she and Lena’s souls bathed in the glory of each other’s love through nothing more than a simple, silent stare.

It was same way they spotted each other in any crowded room and were drawn together like magnets in the face of any separation. It’s how at the few parties and events they’d attended since being together, no matter how big or small, how empty or crowded a room could be - green and blue always found each other, across any space, past any other body. The rest of the world would melt away and it would just be the two of them. And they could be complimentary towards each other from afar and they could smirk and smile and be cynical or sweet or affected by anything happening around them while communicating it all to the other through simple eye contact.

And sometimes, that eye contact communicated something darker and deeper and more dangerous. Things they wanted or needed that they could never say or do with anyone else but each other. Things they didn’t even want to put into words.

Like the time, quite recently, they’d decided to have a rare night out at a fancy sushi place downtown. Lena had worn a calf-length black dress and Kara wore a black, form-fitting suit because she knew how much Lena loved it when she dressed like that. What Lena hadn’t known, what she hadn’t realized or anticipated until her hand landed on Kara’s thigh as they sat in their quiet booth staring longingly at each other over their second bottle of wine and she decided to be cheeky and sneak a quick tracing of her fingers higher up Kara’s leg -

Was Kara had come strapped. Literally. Lena had gasped when the back of her hand bumped against a long, thick shaft that she somehow hadn’t noticed due to the dim lighting and dark pants and long blazer which had helped hide the rather significant bulge. Kara had just looked at her with a mischievous glint in her eyes as if the surprise she was saving for later had been prematurely uncovered, yet she didn’t care one bit.

Lena had immediately lost the ability to swallow, and before she knew what she was even doing, probably driven a little by the Merlot, she uncontrollably slid out of the booth and headed straight for the restroom. And Kara was right behind her, dropping a few hundred dollar bills onto the table to cover a meal which only cost half that.

As soon as Lena had entered the restroom, she’d halted in her tracks at the sight of a young woman washing her hands. She’d assumed Lena also needed the sink and quickly finished and stepped to the side with a polite smile which Lena returned in kind, eyes to the floor to avoid showing off the blush of her cheeks. 

“ _Oh my God_.” the girl had said as soon as Kara stepped inside behind them, “You’re Kara Danvers! Is it - is it weird if I ask for a photo?”

Kara’s eyes locked in on Lena’s through the mirror as Lena simply went through the motions of washing her hands.

Kara shook her head and offered a slight smile to the young woman, obliging the photo as the girl thanked her with a goofy grin and while rambling with wide eyes, told her “Wow, in person you’re even more… wow. Um. Anyway, it’s - it’s an honor.” she bumbled out before excusing herself past Kara and exiting quickly to return to her own date.

And then Kara had looked at Lena again in the reflection as Lena dried her hands with a smirk and a seductive lift of her eyebrow. “Kara Danvers, it’s an honor.” she’d teased, low and breathy.

Kara’s hand had then reached over without looking and - CLICK - locked the bathroom door.

And then she slid slowly up behind Lena.

Keeping her back to Kara, seductive green never left the intense, hungry gaze of blue in the reflection of the mirror.

Lena’s lips had parted and her chest had flushed as Kara maintained constant eye contact while down below, her fingers grazed the outer edge of Lena’s thighs, slowly hiking Lena’s dress up past her ass. And with a rather intense glare, Lena was challenging Kara to look down, and see the surprise she had for _her_ , as she wore nothing under her dress. She knew she wanted to. She knew how much Kara loved that part of her, but instead, Kara’s body just pressed against it, pinning Lena to the edge of the counter, and she as she fully felt what was underneath the thin fabric of Kara’s pants pressing against her, it shook a little of Lena’s resolve and she blinked lazily, her breath catching.

Yet even still, neither broke the stare at each other in the mirror as the unzipping of Kara’s pants lightly echoed in the empty room amidst the hauntingly seductive lull of Cibo Matto’s “Sugar Water” playing low on the speaker.

And they just stopped for a moment and gazed at each other. Until Lena, never even blinking from her lock on Kara’s eyes, dropped her hands to the marble counter in front of her to brace.

Lena’s face had flushed as Kara reached around under the front edge of the hiked dress to apply a ministration with her fingers that made Lena’s lips part further and chest heave a little more, despite her jaw remaining firmly locked as Kara’s other hand guided entrance from behind.

Kara hadn’t needed to look down. Hadn’t wanted to. No, this time it was about something more. Something intense and dangerous that only constant eye contact could offer. Seeing the look in each other’s eyes as it all happened had engulfed the room in a sheer eroticism unlike either of them had ever experienced, Lena especially. Never in a million years would Lena had done this in public with anyone else. But with Kara it had suddenly become as if it was the only thing she’d ever wanted, and tomorrow she could die fulfilled if she’d just had this today. It was only when Kara was buried to the hilt did Lena’s jaw finally go lax and the first of many slight gasps escape.

Kara had moved slow and methodically and intentionally sloppily in a manner that had begun to drive Lena absolutely wild, and not in a good way, because she was deliberately avoiding hitting the spot she knew Lena desperately needed, which was something Kara never did. Kara usually landed exactly where she needed to be, letting Lena feel the upmost pleasure, feel everything all at once, never missing, and it always sent her over the edge so quickly, and again and again.

But this time - this time Kara had denied her the effects of that perfect positioning, and so she’d glared at Kara in the reflection, eyes ablaze, as Kara just glared back, almost smirking, until her head tilted a little as if telling Lena to just let her know what else she needed and Lena responded by grabbing Kara’s hand on her hip and moving it instead to grip her breast and squeeze as Lena rolled her hips against the fingers Kara had in front and the phallus she had inside of her from behind and her breathing started to increase as she practically chased the spot herself.

And blue never left green as Lena tried in vain to get herself there. And when Kara didn’t help, when she actually stopped her movements entirely with the exception of intentionally pulling back a little to avoid letting Lena find what she needed, green started to strain, looking at blue with a helpless, pleading stare, and that’s all Kara ever wanted. She’d wanted Lena to beg, not with her mouth, but with her _eyes_.

Fueled by lust and wine and love, Kara had wanted to test the depth of their non-verbal connection. So once she saw the sign and got the message she needed in Lena’s desperate, almost tearfully begging emeralds, Kara shifted slightly, adjusting her angle which forced Lena to lunge forward a little as her hand SLAPPED against the mirror for support as Kara sent forward a thrust that choked Lena into pure silence and shocked her eyes wide. Yet still, she never ended the lock on Kara’s eyes in the reflection. For Lena, it was a moment of pure unbridled vulnerability. She was, for those few seconds, a human walking nerve splayed open wide on display, an unashamed pinnacle of need and culmination of imminent pleasure which was on its way, barreling towards her like a freight train, which Kara saw coming from a mile away in the reflection of Lena’s emeralds - since she was the one fueling the engine, full steam ahead with that exceptional aim that Lena had become so accustomed to as Kara’s fingers resumed simultaneous work. And from there it only took another moment.

Kara’s other hand covering Lena’s mouth just in time had silenced the scream that would have otherwise exposed them. And for the first time they broke eye contact, but only because Lena’s eyes rolled back into her head and her body crumbled and shook but somehow stayed up thanks to Kara’s strong arms keeping her that way.

And when Lena’s eyes were finally able to refocus only to discover that that Kara’s deep blues had never once looked away, had watched her through her wave of pleasure - she took in the sight of Kara’s red face and blown pupils and quickly heaving chest, knowing that - though quietly and more in control - Kara had climaxed too just from the sheer eroticism and pressure of it all. And she was almost sorry she missed it for that brief moment she’d seen white. _Almost_.

And as blue still held green, Kara’s hand slid off of Lena’s face, dropping to rest at her chest with Lena’s hand atop hers. And then they closed their eyes, both finally breaking the stare for the first time as Kara’s head dipped and her forehead rested on the back of Lena’s shoulder, breathing together. Calming together. Each an extension of the other. Always connected.

——-

Lena didn’t hear the masculine voice behind her. She didn’t hear the child screaming in her arms or the scared whimpers of the older boy who’d been tossed by Kara and thankfully caught by his mother who now lay huddled on the floor with him. Not at first, anyway. She was too busy staring in horror at the door where she’d last seen Kara’s comforting, beautiful, steady blue eyes that always emoted so much.

“Kara… KARA!” finally burst from her throat, somehow as she lurched forward and touched the bent metal, feeling the vibration from the force of the roaring water on the other side, her wide, unblinking eyes then tracing down to spot the where the bottom edge door had twisted slightly, letting loose a steady stream which spilled in around her feet, working its way along the tile behind her at an alarming speed. She wanted to tear the door open. Whether to save Kara or die with her...

In her shock and confusion and horror - she doesn’t see the woman helped up by the brave security guard who’d been on the fifth floor doing a final, dangerous sweep before heading upstairs via the stairwell down the hall.

“Ma’am. Ma’am we have to go, it may not hold. The other stairwell is clear up to nine, but I don’t know how long.”

But all Lena can do is let her mouth drop open and close again and again as she desperately tries to form words. To protest. To call out Kara’s name again.

“No…” she finally, barely huffs as the man grabs for her arm. “ _NO_!!” she screams now as he pulls harder. “ _NO NO NO NO! KARA!!!_ ”

“She’s gone. _She’s gone. Please!_ ” the mother now pleads, “I’m _so_ sorry -“ she says with a face full of tears knowing her role in it, “But please, _my children_.”

At those words, Lena lessens her struggle against the man, not giving in but also not fighting him further as he drags her back and pulls her on down the hallway.

And all Lena can see flashing in her mind again and again are Kara’s comforting, beautiful, steady blue eyes that always emoted so much… looking at her in those final moments with an apology -

For the broken promise of a forever they’ll never have.

And yet…

As the initial, _mortifying_ shock begins to wane from Lena as she’s dragged further and further away from the door and the low but steadily increasing stream of water chasing behind them, she finds, oddly, that she doesn’t feel hollow and cold, as she probably should. She feels… fearful. She feels _desperate_. She feels a deep tug in her heart and a terror in her soul. Both of which she knows she wouldn’t feel unless she was still scared for Kara, which means deep down despite what she'd just seen, she still believed she was alive… somehow. That she could _survive_ somehow.

Because Kara Danvers was the strongest person Lena knew, physically or otherwise. Kara Danvers had the endurance of a world champion. Kara Danvers was fearless. Kara Danvers was a burning fire, a fire which could not be snuffed out by, of all things, the ocean she loved so dearly. She’d proven that time and again. Lena had seen it in person. She knew that if anyone could find a way to survive... It was her lover. Her best friend. Her future. Her world. _Her Kara_.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delay between chapters. I know that was cruel where I left off, lol. Was hoping this chapter would be a bit longer, but I just wanted to get something up for everyone while I work on the next chunk.

She’d at first wanted to collapse and die right there, her soulmate gone forever, right in front of her. Self-sacrificing to save her and three strangers. And yet, as Lena found that glimmer of hope that the love of her life could survive anything, some unforeseen force made her keep moving, allowing herself to be urged further and further up new flights of stairs. Further and further away from Kara.

The security guard’s voice echoes in her ear as he tells them again how the stairwell is clear up to 9th floor, where everyone else is holed up. At some point he asks if anyone’s hurt.

“Ma’am - ma’am are you hurt?” He asks again until she registers the question and can only offer a slight shake of her head.

“Good. They’re stretched pretty thin up there.” He pants, every further step a drain on his energy.

Lena’s still in a state of shock when she reaches the 9th floor.

She drags through the packed hallway, a modern day Rose after the sinking of the Titanic, lost amidst of sea of quiet people looking scared and forlorn.

She barely registers the sight of the woman and her children quickly embraced by her husband - a patient who parts through the crowd to holler their names in relief. The reunion is a tender, wonderful moment for everyone who witnesses it.

Except Lena, who simply remains in a daze.

Until -

“Lena?” the voice calls gently, full of shock - and then when repeated, dread.

Alex’s heart drops to her stomach at the sight of Lena. And Lena’s matches as she makes eye contact with Kara’s sister.

Her mouth opens to speak, to explain… but nothing comes out.

“Lena wh-what are you doing here? Was Kara with you?" she asks before knowing better, knowing they're always together. "Wh... Lena, where’s my sister?” she asks, nearly breathless, afraid to know the answer. But then she grabs Lena by the shoulders to shake her back to reality, “LENA!”

When tears come to Lena’s eyes - Alex’s go wide.

“What floor did you find them on?” she asks of the security guard.

“WHAT FLOOR?!” She demands when he delays in confusion.

“Five, ma’am, but -“

Alex bursts past them all and bolts down the length of the hallway, sprinting for the stairwell.

“Ma’am, wait!” he bellows after her.

From there -

Everything goes a little bit quieter for Lena.

Even the sound of the struggle as Alex fights desperately against the group of people who restrain her, telling her they don’t know how long the stairwell will be clear and that it’s too dangerous, not just for her, but for all of them if the water continues to rise. And when the mother chimes in to tell her she’s so sorry, and mentions how she gave her life for them and says again, tearfully how she’s so very, _very_ sorry -

Alex collapses against a fellow doctor in a silent, angrily tearful heap.

And Lena slides down the wall, burying her face in her hands.

——-

_They say time slows when you’re drowning. That a moment feels like an eternity. Maybe that was true…_

Kara Danvers knows how to take a hit. She’d been rocked by the surf so many times, thrown about like she was trapped inside a washing machine, striking sharp reef at full impact, struck by long boards, taking blow after blow to the body from the brutal oceans she’d dared to challenge her whole life.

She’d also been in fights. Fights over territory, over waves, over people. She wasn’t proud of those, but they were part of a life lived on the edge, growing up in a place where she had to work hard to earn the respect of the locals, in particular her male counterparts. That meant taking hits. Real, bruising, bloody hits. She knew how to dodge a punch and when one occasionally would hit - she knew how to take it.

As such, she was covered in scars and bruises that were as common as freckles for anyone else.

But _this_? This was something else. This wasn’t a mere cycle of salted fury she could give into and let have its way with her and spit her back out on the other side like a bad wipe out. This was something else entirely. The sheer force of the pressure as she’d been first slammed into the door had - _possibly -_ knocked her out. She wasn’t entirely sure. That's how disorienting it all was. She just feels the impact, the jolt, then sees darkness but when she registers reality again, which had to only be a moment later, she finds herself pinned to the wall as the whole stairwell is engulfed. And she is then, as it rises and piles in more and more and higher and higher - tugged and pulled and whipped in so many directions.

And unlike a bad wipe out, even the worst she'd ever had, there is no light above to guide her. It's all just darkness. Pitch black. She doesn't dare to try to open her eyes a second time as she's flung about like a rag doll, pieces of glass and debris striking, slicing and battering her skin.

And then, suddenly - it calms. Only enough to stop the brutal violence, but the pressure is still unbearable. It’s like she’s under a hundred feet of water. And her chest feels a distinctive, familiar tug.

And that’s when her life flashes before her tightly shut eyes. She sees the comforting smiles of her parents, and the others she’d loved and lost along the way. Alex's teasing smirk. John's intense but encouraging face. The wide, adoring eyes of young surfers she’d mentored, including Ruby. The laughter of friends. And Lena. Lena, Lena, _Lena..._ her face, her eyes, her voice, the sound of her gasps and moans, the feel of her kiss and the almost buzzing energy under Lena’s skin Kara felt when she touched her. Lena once joked it was if Kara had lightning in her fingertips, but for Kara it was more that Lena was the sun that fueled her. That charged her. That empowered her. She needed Lena as much as Lena needed her.

And it's in this moment that Kara is fervently reminded how she wants to spend every day for the rest of her life showing her just that. She wants thousands upon thousands of more tomorrows with Lena. She wants the future she promised her when she extended that ring last night. She wants their forever.

Her eyes burst back open at the thought and she instinctively reaches for the wall closest to her - and her hands search. They claw and feel and swipe in the darkness. She searches blind as that tug in her chest increases and she’s knows she’s on a ticking time clock. She knows her limits and she knows she’s going to push it, especially with the added pressure of a confined space.

But she keeps searching and feeling for something, _anything_. She makes contact with the metal bars of the stair rail and it centers her a bit, allows her to gather her bearings and for the first time in the last minute - to think.

She pushes off in the direction she knows she’ll have the best chance.

And then she finally, thankfully finds it - an open doorway. She has no idea which floor she’s even on as she pulls herself through.

Kara swims hard, the pressure in her lungs building. She’s running out of time.

She dares to squint open her eyes again despite still feeling the debris -

Light. She spots _light_. It’s coming from the window at the end of a long hallway, where sun pierces the deep waters to make black at least a little more blue.

She doesn’t even pause to wonder if she can make it. She just knows she has to.

So she swims. Hard and fast. But her body is tiring from what is nearing two long minutes without oxygen.

And when the lighter blue still seems so far away, she begins to realize this is it. She feels the tug in her chest more than ever and she tries to keep going, but she’s scared. She’s terrified. For the first time in her life she’s actually, genuinely afraid to die. Not because of death itself. But because of what she’ll miss in life. She turns her head to the side in an angry stroke as she tries to hurry a little further, to claw her way to that life she wants so much. That life with _Lena_ -

And that’s when she sees - legs.

 _Legs_? She blinks as she wonders if it's just a dead body. But no - 

It halts her. She stops, mid-swim as bubbles form around her mouth because she knows she can’t hold her breath any more.

But there they are, barely blurred and visible through the glass of a large room to the side. _Floating, moving legs_.

Someone’s alive in that room. Despite the entire floor filled top to bottom.

And that’s when she realizes - they’re in an air pocket under a large piece of machinery that had floated up to the ceiling in the swell. Kara’s eyes go wide and she hurries and reaches for the doorframe and pulls herself inside the room and with her last ounce of air -

She GASPS as she emerges under the pocket next to -

A shocked, startled young female nurse who half screams in a terrified gasp. 

The woman’s eyes are wide as saucers at the sight of Kara, as they both bob and tread water while they hold themselves up with raisin fingers gripping whatever they can hold on the machine, keeping their chins up and sucking air in the small space.

“Oh my God!” the woman cries out finally, her initial shock of someone scaring her wearing down, but eyes still filled with terror from her current situation.

The nurse is both shocked and relieved to not be alone. But then she’s concerned, especially when her gaze registers a hint of familiarity at the gasping, coughing blonde in front of her who’s currently trying to calm her heart while wonderful, _glorious_ air fills her lungs.

“K-Kara Danvers?” is said in disbelief. 

And Kara finally squints as her breathing slows, but only a little.

She shakes her head as if to ask how she knows her, though she can probably guess. Instead - 

“I was your scrub nurse. In your surgery. Oh my God!”

“Are you okay?” Kara chokes out and the woman just looks at her, incredulous. “Are _you_ okay? What are you doing here? How-” she shoots back.

And Kara just shakes her head, composing herself further while muttering something about 'a long story', as she looks around at their current predicament.

The woman clocks Kara registering how bad it is. And Kara notices then, that the woman is trembling. And given the warm water temperature, she knows it’s not from cold.

“Hey - hey, it’s okay. You’re gonna be okay. We’re gonna… we’re gonna outta here. I’m gonna get you out of here.” Kara promises.

The woman frowns. Wants to cry but she’s too scared, too wet, too everything.

“Shouldn’t I be comforting _you_?” the nurse asks.

Kara offers the slightest hint of a grin. It’s almost cocky, almost charming. The kind of smile that used to land anybody she wanted in her bed. But this time, it’s not offering flirtation, it’s offering confidence. Assurance.

The woman instantly relaxes a little, oddly comforted. She believes her. And that’s all Kara needs. She just needs her to trust her so she can get them both out of here.

So when the woman nods -

“Okay… okay. I just need to…” Kara starts, bobbing in the water a little, thinking and forcing herself to breathe slower still. She closes her eyes and pictures Lena. Lena’s face, her eyes, her voice, the sound of her gasps and moans, the feel of her kiss and the almost buzzing energy under her skin that fuels her.

Her eyes re-open.

“There’s a window. At the end of the hall.” she determines, resolute. 

“The— the courtyard. Yeah it over looks the courtyard at the center of the hospital.” the nurse confirms.

Kara nods, registering this info. It’s hopeful, at least.

“We gotta get to it. It’s the only way out.”

“What about the stairs? Isn’t it closer?” the woman asks, fear rising again. 

“It’s flooded. I dunno how far up, we can’t risk it. I can’t -“

Kara closes her eyes and shakes her head.

“Your lung. I remember.”

Kara looks at her quizzically.

“You remember all your patients?” she asks.

“Only the ones who look like you.” the woman blurts before she can stop herself, her eyes going a bit wider at her adrenaline fueled honesty.

Kara barely notices what was said though, too focused on her plan to get back to Lena. Her brow furrows in determination. The woman takes note of Kara’s increasing readiness, and her nerves rise further.

“Okay... listen-” Kara begins.

“I can’t. I’m sorry.” the woman interrupts as she begins to shake her head quickly again and again, her whole body shaking harder.

Kara frowns at her.

“I can’t make it. I’m a terrible swimmer.” the nurse admits.

“You live on an island.”

“I know!” she self admonishes, “I’m embarrassing. I’m weak and I’m pathetic and I can’t -“ she begins to tear up, “I can’t do this. I can’t. I just want to stay here until someone comes.”

“Hey - “ Kara reaches over and grips the woman by the mushy collar of her scrub uniform, yanking on it a bit so her name tag is visible, “Elizabeth?” she tries, because she knows no one is coming. They both do. And the water is slowly rising, which Kara registered the moment she popped into the air pocket. It’s slight, but it’s enough to know they don’t have much time.

Kara then grips the woman by the face with one hand, holding them both up a little higher with her other and she can’t help but notice Kara's soaked bicep threatening to rip the seams of her shirt from the strain. She swallows.

“You are not weak. You are strong. You are a nurse. You deal with crazy people. And their crazy families. You - you help _cut into bodies_.”

“I only hand them the instruments.”

“You save lives. You saved mine. Now let me save yours, okay? All you gotta do is trust me. Like I trusted you and the doctors.”

“You didn’t really have a choice, you were unconscious and dying.” 

“Well, I mean I could knock you out and drag you, but I’d prefer to not have to do that.” Kara jokes with that charming curve of her lips again. 

And the woman laughs. Genuinely _laughs_. And then - almost cries as water fills her eyes again. But she closes them. And Kara waits for her to gather herself. And the woman finally nods.

“Okay." Kara begins, knowing she's finally ready, "Okay we’re gonna stay together, we’re gonna swim. We’re gonna swim hard and we’re gonna swim fast. And we’re gonna be okay.” 

There's a long pause as the woman stares into Kara's sure eyes. 

“How do you know?”

And Kara softens a little, unable to offer anything but honestly. 

“I don’t. But I have hope.”

Something in Kara’s determined blue eyes and strongly set jaw calms the terror in the woman’s strained gaze.

“Okay.” she finally whispers, quietly.

“Okay.” Kara says more firm, reaching below the water to give her hand a squeeze of assurance.

“On three.”

The woman holds eye contact with Kara, brow matching her own determined furrow.

Kara nods and together they breathe slow to prepare themselves, as Kara begins the count - 

“One.”

Another breath. The woman’s heart starts to race. Kara’s does too, but she’ll never show it.

“Two.”

——-


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Checking in with Lena and Alex, and flashing back to some smut. Because you know how I like to balance my drama with some heat. And my smut tends to act as a metaphor. ;)

Lena and Alex sit staring straight ahead, into the ominous darkness of the hallway. Both are on the floor, backs to the wall in a rare private spot away from everyone else.

Alex’s eyes are bloodshot, empty and all cried out. She clutches her phone tightly in her hand. She’d texted Kelly earlier to let her know she was safe, but more than anything now she wants to FaceTime her. To see her and look her in the eyes and bask in the comforting gaze of the woman she's fallen so hard for. But the idea of uttering the words... of telling Kelly what happened to Kara… she can’t. Because it would make it real. And it would break her. And she couldn’t break again. She had patients who needed her. Still, she feels so lost. So empty and confused. So _angry_.

Lena meanwhile just seems… elsewhere. Somewhere far off, with a deep frown on her face.

After what feels like forever -

“I just…” Alex tries, barely.

Her strained voice snaps Lena from her daze.

“I don’t understand what you were doing here. Downtown, this early.”

Lena’s lips part as she stares out, a heavy weight on her.

She shuts her eyes a moment and speaks low -

“We were getting married.”

Alex’s head shoots up and over with a deep frown. 

“W…what?”

“She asked me last night. Even had the rings.”

Alex’s mouth drops.

“We came into the city this morning to get it done. Got the license and everything. She signed first." Lena pauses, almost smiling at the fond memory which now sounds like so long ago, "And when I hesitated, not because I was scared or nervous but just because it was…she stood behind me. Against me..." the ghost remembrance of Kara's comforting body pressing into hers sends a shudder through her soul as she continues -

"She didn’t speak, she didn’t… she didn’t do anything she just… she just placed herself right where I needed her. Because that’s what she does. She knows what I need, before I even… without me even having to…”

Alex’s eyes are once again wet with tears as she listens, the strain returning to her face.

“Do you hate me?” Lena asks breathless.

Alex frowns.

“She was here because of me. She shut that door, to save _me_.”

“No-“ Alex’s hand lands on Lena’s tightly.

“Lena, no. Of course not. That’s… that's just Kara. That’s what she does. That’s who she is… was.” Alex halts, looking like she wants vomit at the past tense of the word. She’s close to breaking again and Lena squeezes her hand now before she can. Alex forces herself to breathe, eyes shut.

“She loved you, Lena.” Alex reopens her eyes and looks right at the woman next to her, “More than anything. I could never… I would never…” Alex shakes her head.

And now Lena lets a tear fall as they hold eye contact.

There’s a long, torturous beat as Lena just stares at Alex, as if she wants to say something.

“Alex, I…” but she halts, breath catching in her throat.

Alex’s head tilts curiously.

“Nevermind.” Lena resigns, shaking her head and looking down.

“What, Lena, what is it?”

“No. It - it’s crazy.”

But the look in Alex's eyes says she can still say it, without fear of judgement. 

Lena takes a breath and looks back over, tearful again.

“I’m still afraid, Alex.”

Alex squeezes her hand. 

“Lena the water can’t get any higher, not anymore. It’s not possible. We just gotta hang out here for awhile until it recedes. And the building should hold, it’s newer construction than the ones down the street -“

“No, you don’t understand, I- I’m afraid… _for Kara_.”

Alex looks at her oddly.

“As crazy as it sounds, I- I think she’s still alive, Alex.”

Alex’s face falls flat, “W-” she tries.

“I don’t feel what I think I would feel if she were truly gone.”

“But Lena, she-“ Alex chokes on her own words.

“I know.” Lena interrupts, “I know, it doesn’t make any sense, and I know the odds, but, I -“ Lena’s voice drops to a whisper, “I still _feel_ her, Alex.”

Alex’s eyes lift and more tears threaten.She doesn’t want to give Lena false hope. But believing her, believing Lena and Lena maybe, _maybe_ being right means her sister could still be alive.

“You think I’m crazy.” Lena says, breathless.

Alex takes a moment to process. To really consider her answer, and then she looks at Lean again, resolute.

“No. No, Lena. I think if anyone could survive the worst of this? It’s my sister.”

More tears escape Lena’s eyes, rolling down her cheeks as she and Alex sit huddled together, tightly clasp each other’s hands, as if holding on for dear life. Holding onto _hope_.

“Doctor Danvers?” a male nurse approaches, “Mr. Wong’s BP is getting pretty low.”

Alex hesitates. Looks to Lena, apologetically.

“Go.” Lena assures, “You have people to help.”

The way Lena says it means so much to Alex, because she knows she’s trying to help Alex remember why she needs to hold on, too. Why she needs to be the hero, _like her sister_. Alex nods, grateful for the reminder. 

But before she pushes up, she leans in and kisses Lena on the side of the head, the way she’s always done with Kara.

“I think we’ll make great sisters.” she speaks quietly against Lena’s temple, assuring them both of a future with Kara connecting them. Lena closes her eyes and lets another drop roll down her cheek. And then when Alex finally slips away to follow the nurse as she wipes her own tears -

Lena’s head tilts back, lids closed. And she breathes. She breathes deep and deliberate.

She’s feeling for Kara again. _Willing_ her to be alive. To survive. To find her way.

“Come back to me, Kara. I’m right here…” she says, barely above a whisper.

——-

Kara had licked at her entrance, up towards the spot that drove Lena wild, stopping and sucking slightly. Except she did it slow. Steady. Again. And again.

“Fuck. Kara, please, god damn.” had escaped low and gritting in a whine, her accent heightened from her desperation.

“I’m right here…” Kara said low as she grinned from her spot between Lena’s thighs as Lena laid sprawled on the bed.

“I need-“ Lena choked out.

“Breathe through it. Just breathe.” Kara instructed, interrupting, her warm breath a further tease against Lena’s mound.

Lena had swallowed hard, shaking her head.

“No, I can’t. I need - I need…” her voice was strained and desperate. Her hips bucked up but Kara lifted away to avoid granting her anything more. And when her legs tried to wrap around Kara’s upper back and neck to instead pull her closer, Kara pushed them off and pinned them down with her strength, which only opened Lena further. Only mades her even more wanton. Especially when Kara barely, barely dipped the tip of her tongue inside while giving the slightest ghost of a sweep above with her thumb.

Lena had tried to buck again. And again Kara had pulled away. 

“Fuck, we shouldn’t have done this. We shouldn’t have done this. This isn’t - JUST UNTIE ME.”

It was demanded almost angrily as Lena twisted her arms at the bindings that connected her wrists to the bedposts.

“ _Lena_ …” the soft way Kara said her name had calmed her. But only a little.

“It’s been _hours_.” Lena gritted, silently cursing herself for ever having agreed to try anything of this nature.

“It’s been forty-five minutes.”

“That’s too long. I’m not made for this. This isn’t for me.”

“Then say the word.” Kara offered, lightly kissing Lena’s mound, her hand lovingly stroking her lower pelvis.

But Lena said nothing. She couldn’t.

Until another torturous swipe of Kara’s tongue elicited a loud, desperate whine. 

“Tell me to stop.”

“Kara, _please_ …” choked out, desperate and breathless. Lena was almost crying.

“Just trust me, Lena. You’re almost there. Just trust me.”

Tears had fully welled in Lena’s eyes. She clenched them, jaw set. She nodded.

“Just enjoy this part.” Kara said before she swiped her tongue, again making Lena lurch.

“Don’t chase the end.”

Another teasing dip of the tip, as Lena had further writhed.

“Just feel it all.”

A lick, as Lena had then shuddered.

“Embrace it for what it is.”

A sucking. Then flicking of that perfect spot.

“Not what it will be.”

Lena’s jaw had then clenched as tightly as her eyes had.

“Look at me.” Kara ordered, gently.

Lena’s brow furrowed, reluctant. But she obeyed. And the sight caused her frown to soften.

Through a hooded gaze she watched as Kara slowly teased and took torturously long gaps between each ministration, each time looking at Lena’s most intimate area like it was the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen. Like she was literally worshiping her. Which she was.

This went on for what felt to Lena like another forever.

And Lena’s chest only rose and fell faster and faster. She started to feel like if she didn’t get her release, she’d hyperventilate and pass out.

“Kara…” she finally strained, gurgling out. “ _Kara_ …” she begged again for the hundredth time since they’d started. Her body started to writhe yet again. Her hands twisted so hard at their bindings that she knew it would leave marks. 

“Kara, please. I love you. I need you. Please if you love me—”

“I do love you.” _‘That’s why I’m doing this’_ remained unsaid. “Trust me.” Kara told her again, this time low and breathless.

Lena’s head fell back and she stared up at the swiping ceiling fan. _Whoosh - whoosh - whoosh_.

She thought she might explode. If only she could. Her body trembled. Sweat dripped down her temple. Her heart raced at a rate that could not possibly be healthy. Still, she didn’t say stop. She knew she could at any time and it would be over. But the part of her that trusted Kara, the part of her that was originally so willing to try this, the part of her that wanted to know what it would feel like when finally granted after all this time - kept that word ‘stop’ from escaping her parched lips.

Then, suddenly, perhaps as a reward for her newfound span of silent self control, with every slow drawl of the ceiling fan blades - a lick. A swipe. A dip. A flick of her tongue tip against the swell.

Kara was suddenly finding a rhythm. It was still _much_ too slow. But at least more and faster than before.

And with every whoosh of the fan, had come an electric jolt to her core from Kara’s touches, licks and kisses.

And with it - Lena's need, her desire, the intense throbbing below, somehow had built up even more. She didn’t think it possible for the pull to be any stronger. But she was wrong. So very, _very_ wrong.

Her mouth dropped when Kara finally, fully dipped in her tongue. And one thing of note… much like her fingers, Kara’s got a long, broad, _strong_ tongue.

“Oh God…” Lena choked out. “Kara…”

But that time it wasn’t a begging. It was something else. It was… almost a warning. Almost fearful because she knew what came next but she also didn’t, because it wasn’t guaranteed since Kara hadn’t let her arrive yet. She’d never experienced a need like what she’d been feeling for that hour, and the buildup was unlike anything she’d ever felt before.

Her body began to tremble. All at once she was on fire, head-to-toe.

“Oh God, Kara - I’m going t—“

“You’re going to or you need to?”

“I’m going to!” she whined, body twisting.

“I’m not even touching you Lena.”

And Lena looked down and saw, she was right. Kara wasn’t even touching her at all at that point. She was just hovering near her core. Watching. _Waiting_.

“Fuck… Kara… _fuck_ … how are you-”

But before she could even fully ask how this was happening. Before she could beg her to touch her again even though she didn’t even need it, even though she was about to come undone from the sheer eroticism and desperation of buildup -

Kara took her fully into her mouth and sucked. Hard. While applying a white hot pressure with her tongue and landing her suddenly inserted for the first time fingertips against that perfect spot of soft flesh inside and giving it a nudging stroke.

Lena’s body snapped like a bow as a nearly inhuman SCREAM escaped the back of her parched throat.

It was the hardest she’d ever arrived in her life.

And then she’d lost consciousness, or maybe just touch with reality. But only for a split second, and when her eyes opened, they were practically in the back of her head.

“Fuck! Oh f...” Lena gurgled, her breathing labored and quick still, her shoulders rising and body lurching again and again as the orgasm just kept going in wave after wave after wave as she cried out Kara’s name almost fearfully as she had no idea what her body was doing or how or when this feeling might end which was both terrifying and exhilarating - until Kara unlatched her mouth and pulled out her two fingers. And Lena was left writhing, having spilled out, her slickness coating the sheets.

And just as the final few short waves subsided with a few more jerks of her body, before Lena could choke out the words to tell Kara how wrong she was to ever doubt how incredible that would be -

Kara latched on and repeated her action from before on her throbbing, swollen, still contracting core and Lena was again seeing white.

And she never doubted Kara again.

Her body trembled like she was frozen, but she was very much on fire. She finally went limp, but it was only for a moment.

“Untie me. Stop, right now. Stop, untie me.” She’d suddenly ordered when she could barely speak again.

Kara had frowned, thinking something wrong. She immediately lunged up the length of the bed and yanked the ties free, first one, then the other in record time.

“What, Lena, what’s wro—“

But before she could even ask, Lena’s body had wrapped around hers, arms around Kara’s neck desperately, pulling her in and kissing her with a fury of gratitude, all tongue and hard breathing and desperation to convey something she couldn’t possibly put into words. Still she tried, parting their lips, pressing her forehead to Kara as Kara hovered over.

“I love you. I love you Kara. I love how you make me feel. I love what you do to me. I’ve never… I never knew it could be like this. Fuck, I fucking love you. With everything. My body. My heart. My soul. _Kara_ …” the last part was plead as her hips bucked up in between each declaration, rubbing herself against Kara’s abs and from her swollen, sensitive core - Kara felt what was happening so she bore down to add pressure to help her - and Lena came again, clutching tightly onto Kara.

“ _Fuck_ , Lena.” Kara had huffed as Lena was taken over the edge.

And Lena, not realizing Kara’s own need just yet finally… finally calmed.

And then she kissed Kara softly.

“We’re doing you next.” she’d said, reaching for the ties, until Kara had stopped her, shaking her head.

“No, not after that, I’d never last. Not this time.” She’d admitted. She’d just wanted this to be about Lena anyway, but after the way Lena came apart twice and then made those declarations and wrapped herself around her and came a third time on her stomach - she’d been worked up in a way she hadn’t anticipated.

Lena could tell from the heavily blown pupils and flushed color of Kara’s skin and deep tremble of her body she was seriously too far gone for anything less than what she’d needed. She was practically bursting at the seems with a demanding, almost blinding energy that Lena could definitely relate to, given her desperation just minutes ago.

“What do you need?” Lena asked quickly, still breathless.

“Anything.” Kara had grunted fast.

Lena responded by quickly shoving a hand down between them. A few quick hard rubs and Kara’s body lurched in a silent gasp, hands clenching the sheets at both sides of Lena’s head to the point where Lena swore she heard them tear as her body went rigid for a long moment while Lena watched, her own eyes ablaze at the sight.

“ _Fuck, Lena_...” She exhaled again, near her ear when she finally came down.

And then Lena felt and heard a slightly humored scoff, feeling Kara’s smile against her cheek.

“What?” Lena had asked as Kara collapsed over next to her, but remained wrapped against her from the side as she still caught her breath.

“This is gonna sound weird… Being turned on when your partner is, that’s one thing. But that’s not... I swear sometimes it’s like... I can feel what you feel. Like you’re an extension of me. A part of me. Connected. Like… like a another limb. That’s crazy right?”

Lena, who had finally slowed her own breathing, reached over and stroked Kara’s cheek.

“No.”

Kara’s eyes were hopeful for the agreement.

“It’s not crazy. I know exactly what you mean. Seeing you like that just now. I almost came again.”

“Yeah? You need me to-“ Kara had quickly offered. 

“No, God. No… I can’t. I’m done for… I’m _done_.” Lena assured.

Kara had grinned then asked, “You need some water?” about to leap out of bed and get whatever Lena wanted or needed.

“No!” Lena had said quickly, pulling her back.

“Don’t you dare let me go.”

“Never.” Kara had said with an almost too serious frown and eyes closed against Lena’s temple.

They’d laid like that for several minutes, until Lena’s breathing returned to normal and they were both becoming sleepy.

“Do you think we have too much sex?” Kara had asked suddenly.

Lena looked at her like she’d just spoken an alien language.

“What? No. Heavens, no. Why would you-“

“Just… in a session with Kelly the other day… we were exploring how I used to use sex as a distraction. And I know I used to. But it’s different now. It’s an extension of love. It’s me wanting to make you feel good - all the time.”

“You do. _God_ you do.” Lena assured, with a cock of her brow.

“But is that… I mean that’s not all we have, right? That’s not - that’s not all I do for you?” Kara asked tentatively.

Lena frowned in disbelief.

“Kara. Kara, you make me feel safe. You support me. You listen to me. You comfort me. You make me laugh. You know when to force me to talk versus when to give me distance -“

“When you’re on your period.” Kara interrupted to confirm.

“ _Precisely_ then, yes.” Lena had agreed and they’d shared the laugh, before she then grew more serious again.

“Kara you do so much for me. I can only hope I reciprocate even half of what you do for me.”

"You do! God, yes, Lena. You do so much for me. You make me feel like a whole person for the first time in my life. And I love you _so_ much. For _so_ many reasons. But that... that’s another thing.” Kara shook her head slightly before continuing - 

“She brought up codependency.”

“She said we were co-dependent?” Lena frowned. 

“No. Not exactly. It was more like… well she said I was isolated for so long that I have to be careful not to pendulum the other way now, you know? One extreme to the other. I mean we do everything for each other. With each other. We have no secrets. We’re together all the time. I dunno maybe it’s all just swirling around in my head, messing with me. It’s just - when we were first starting out we couldn’t stand to be away from each other for like a second -“

“I mean I did hump a pillow.” Lena chimed in under breath.

“What?”

Lena blushed, but they truly did have no secrets, so…

“That first night we were apart, when you had to go work with Ruby. I might’ve tried to get myself off... in an embarrassing assortment of ways.”

Kara’s eyebrows had raised in surprise.

“ _Oh God_.” Lena said with an embarrassed hand slapping over her face, which Kara immediately pulled away.

“That’s actually _so_ fucking hot. Knowing you were that worked up for me. Is that when you sent me that text?”

Lena nodded. Kara smiled.

“If that ever happens again-“

Kara leaned in close to Lena’s ear, with a low, dangerous -

“Just tell me to come fuck you.”

Lena shuddered at the suggestion, and if she weren’t fully sated she might have wanted more after that practically growled instruction. Instead she just pulled Kara to face her again and kissed her. Eventually, they parted again.

Kara’s fingers gently stroked Lena’s skin, up and down her arms, offering those familiar, wonderful bolts of electricity.

“Alex asked me to stay over on Friday. Have an old movie night like we used to before she moved downtown. I think after everything she just wants to spend more time together. And I was thinking that maybe, you know… maybe I should try that.”

Lena’s lips had parted in surprise.

“What, you don’t want me to?” Kara asked of her expression.

Lena shook her head, “Kara, I want you to do whatever you want to do.”

“I want be with you. I don’t want to spend a single night away from you. Ever.”

Lena’s heart had instantly swelled.

“But…” Kara sighed, “Maybe I should be sure that I _can_. Even if I don’t want to. Prove it’s not - that there’s no unhealthy codependency happening here.” Kara finished, “You know?”

Lena had looked at her softly and nodded, understanding.

“Okay. Whatever you need.” 

“Yeah?” Kara asked to be sure.

“Yeah.” Lena assured before she kissed her again.

“And hey, I can always sneak away after she’s asleep so you don’t mess up our pillows.” Kara said as soon as their lips parted.

Lena playfully shoved at her. “It’s a forty minute drive.”

“I’d drive forever for you.” she’d replied with such genuine affection it made Lena melt again.

Lena shook her head, leaning in to kiss her again, “Find you someone who melts your heart and supercharges your clit.” she said low, more to herself than anybody.

But Kara had pulled back, humored and curious.

“Just… something Sam said to me the other day.”

“You talk a lot about our sex life with her huh?” Kara accused, giving a slight nudge of her knee to Lena’s thigh.

“Talk about. Brag about. Rub in her jealous face.” Lena finished with a cocky shift of her wonderful eyebrow.

“I mean, I told Jack I’d give him some pointers.” Kara teased and Lena joined her in a laugh as their lips met in the middle.

And then they wrapped up in each other’s arms and legs and enjoyed the calm sounds of the surf crashing outside with the gentle dance of their lips and hums of contentment before theyfinally drifted off to slumber.

And the next night, after movies and laughter and plenty of wine… after Alex had fallen asleep...

Kara had received a text:

_“Come fuck me.”_

In a flash, Kara was sneakily rushing out of Alex’s flat without a moment’s hesitation before she hauled ass across the island as fast as her jeep would take her. She got a speeding ticket on the way over. Almost two tickets, but the second cop, a woman, cut her some slack after recognizing her and asking what had her in such a rush. When Kara had shrugged and honestly just said “Gonna go fuck my girlfriend.” the woman had blushed and stuttered and told her to be careful, saying "It’s slippery.” before she’d quickly added “The road!” as she awkwardly rushed back to her squad car.

A naked Lena had practically jumped Kara the moment she’d arrived home, literally tearing her clothes off with a breathlessly admonishing “The fuck took you so long?” as Kara registered the intense buzzing hum of whatever vibrator had proven useless while she was away.

A quickly equally nude Kara had scooped Lena up, legs wrapped at her waist, landing them onto the bed before she grabbed for the device, wasting no time before instantly placing it low between them, using it on both of them simultaneously as she ground against Lena’s writhing body below while taking her perked and heaving chest into her mouth, one then the other more intensely - the one she knows she prefers, which sent a desperate Lena over the edge in record time, then again, and again as Kara soon joined her...

And yeah, maybe they couldn’t go 24 hours without each other, but they were as close and open and protective and supportive and understanding as two people could be. And they still had their lives and friends and family and passions, but they also had each other now. And they’d both been alone for far too long, so they both figured maybe it was okay to now be together the way they were. And to prefer each other’s company over all else. And to choose each other. Maybe it was even ok to get a bit lost in each other. Because that’s how they found each other in the first place.

And why fuck with a good thing?

A perfect thing.

A _soulmate_ thing.

——-


	7. Chapter 7

Kara knew, logically, that escaping through the window at the end of the hallway truly was their best best. Their only bet. Even from a distance earlier, she could tell the window was cracked already, and since it opened to a larger space - the courtyard at the center of the hospital - it meant there was open air at the top.

If they could just get down the hall, through the window, and swim for the surface - they’d survive. The odds of it all happening without a hitch, and in under two minutes given Kara’s frustrating new limitation… were slim. But she knew they had to try. And more than that, she felt the pull. Something deep inside that tugged at her soul. That same something that had fueled her to keep going and stay alive in the stairwell. It was Lena. She knew it was Lena. She knew Lena was waiting on her. And Kara would stop at nothing to hold Lena in her arms again.

So as she counts to three and takes the deepest breath she can muster while locking eyes with the saucers that were Elizabeth’s - a rush of adrenaline fills her veins.

In a blink, they’re out of the room.

In a matter of seconds, they’re swimming hard and fast towards the window at the end of the hall. When Elizabeth begins to fall behind, Kara pulls her onward.

Debris floats around them, the entire hospital floor frozen in time in an eery, dark blue grave of death and destruction.

Key word on _death_ , when the water is suddenly murky ahead and they bump into a large mass. Kara pauses long enough to push and turn the heavy lump to move it out of their way -

Until Elizabeth jolts and panics at the sight of a dead gaze staring back at her. It's the pale, haunting face of some poor soul who didn’t make it to safety in time.

It momentarily halts Kara, too. But Elizabeth’s panic snaps her back to reality. She grabs the nurse's hand and pulls her on past the dead man -

And they just keep swimming.

By the time they reach the window, Kara’s lungs are starting to burn already. There’s no way it’s been two minutes. At most, it’s maybe been one. She knows she must be tiring and her body is now turning against her for the punishment she’s dealt it, between sprinting across town and surviving stairwell.

There’s no time to worry about that though, when they both realize what’s on the other side. Elizabeth looks over at Kara in fear when they see more debris whipping by like a tornado outside, the courtyard having been turned into a sort of six-story whirlpool and they’re in for another battle once they escape their current entrapment.

But Kara knows they have no choice. There’s no going back now. It’s their only way.

As Elizabeth clutches the wall by the window, trying to focus on slowing her heart rate after that swim and holding her breath for as long as she can -

Kara is busy looking for something to help break the window.

She spots a metal IV stand floating nearby. She quickly grabs for it, turns in the water and takes aim for the deep crack - BAM - Kara strikes the stand’s base against the weak spot on the window. Again and again.

 _Shit_.

Nothing happens.

Kara can feel Elizabeth's panic rising next to her. 

So she strikes it harder, and it’s not easy to get momentum under water, but thankfully her years of underwater training has prepared her muscles for this level of resistance.

Finally -

A small crack appears by the deeper one. Then another. Just as Kara thinks they’re in luck as an intricate spiderweb of fragility spreads - the IV stand bends on the next strike, nearly breaking. And Kara knows it won’t have the same impact from here.

_Fuck!_

Kara grits and shoves the now useless IV stand away.

But the window is cracked enough. Just enough that maybe -

Kara throws a punch.

It hurts. But she punches again. And again.

More cracks begin to form. More shattering in the window's integrity.

She glances at Elizabeth, whose eyes are starting to slowly blink as she’s about to lose consciousness. _Shit_.

Kara punches harder. Faster. Her lips part and she grits as bubbles escape and she pounds her fist against reinforced glass.

And now she can feel her bones cracking along with it.

Blood begins to form in the water around her as split knuckles open up to mix deep carmine with murky blue.

Kara punches the indiscernible faces of the cruel fates who stole her parents, and John, and Sara and Mike and Lois. She punches them as they dare to take her from her sister now, and from Lena. _Lena, Lena, Lena_ \- Kara punches with unimaginable fury as images of all she’s lost and what she has left flash in her mind. She punches as if Lena is on the other side of that glass and it’s the only thing standing in her way, the only thing keeping them from each other. Keeping them from that promise of tomorrow. She finally lets out a scream of gut wrenching pain and fury under the water -

And when her fist finally shatters -

The window shatters with it.

Neither women have the ability to react before they’re sucked through the opening with the force of a plane’s emergency exit door popped open at 30,000 feet.

They’re immediately absorbed into a whirlpool of yet more debris and destruction - tree limbs, glass, metal and plastic fills the brown, filthy water around them.

Somehow, _somehow_ \- Kara gets a hand on Elizabeth who’s been jolted back to consciousness from the intensity of the suction.

Elizabeth clings to Kara as they try desperately to not be pulled further down. They instead swim against a furious pull, amidst shards of glass and scraping debris and the impact of the whirlpool shit show all around them.

Kara claws for the surface with a busted hand as her other yanks at Elizabeth who does her best to flail and try to help them swim up and up, further and further aiming for the light peeking through at the surface above.

It feels like an eternity even though it’s likely only seconds when they finally break free and both GASP for air amidst the sloshing, brutal waters.

They’re sent twirling along the surface in a large rotation with everything else that fills the deep courtyard whirlpool.

“Come on!” Kara chokes out as she tries to yank Elizabeth towards the wall and maybe avoid any damage from the swirling death trap.

Just as Kara reaches for a drain pipe that lines the wall, relieved to have something they can hold onto -

Her arm, and body, is yanked back - hard.

She turns her head in time to see that Elizabeth has been struck by a large metal bench, knocking her not only unconscious - but also from Kara’s grip.

Kara’s eyes go wide and she dives quickly.

She lets herself be pulled down with Elizabeth by the suction of the whirlpool just long enough - to get a hand on her.

Kara swims hard again, one last time, now that she’s got her. _'You can do this. You can save her.'_ She keeps repeating to herself over and over, until - 

Kara finally breaks the surface. She swims back in the direction she'd aimed for before until she finally reaches the pipe and pulls them both against it, one hand holding on while the other draws the nurse closer and tilts up her head. The gash in her temple is brutal. It’s _gushing_.

“Elizabeth! Elizabeth - hey! I need you to wake up! Damn it, _wake up!_ ” she grits, desperately.

———

Lena sits curled up into herself, rocking back and forth as she prays to a God she now might just have to believe in more than ever that Kara makes it. She _wills_ Kara to come back to her.

“Hey - hey someone’s out there!” yelps the panicked voice of a teenage boy down the hall.

Lena’s eyes burst open and her head turns in that direction.

She sees the security guard and several hospital employees rush down the hall to check out what he’s talking about.

Lena's brow furrows.

“Look - there’s two of ‘em!” She hears the boy say next, “Right there!”

And something forces Lena to stand. To take a step. To walk. She walks past the huddled masses. Past the rows of patient beds and hospital workers and guests. Her steps are slow at first, and then as she sees Alex reach the group by the window first and hands come to her mouth in shock.

Lena stops.

And Alex turns and her eyes are huge and full of so many emotions: relief, hope, fear. And her mouth is agape in disbelief.

And Lena’s lips finally part and her breath catches.

And then she runs. She runs the rest of the way down the hall, pushing past anybody who stands in her way.

By the time she reaches the group, it’s too late for her to see for herself as they’re already working on breaking the window.

Alex intercepts Lena a few steps away -

“Is it her? _Alex is it her?_ ” Lena pleads, desperately.

“It’s her! It’s her!” Alex answers, tearfully.

Lena gasps and tears form for her now. Her knees threaten to buckle in shock, but Alex's strong grip on her arms holds her upright as she nearly cries. But she can't yet. She can't fully release her emotions until she sees.

Lena just needs to see. She _has_ to see - but the group of people working on the window and barking orders at each other are in the way.

“Alex -“ Lena tries.

“It’s okay, let them work.” Alex says quickly.

“Everybody get back!” the security guard orders now as he finally breaks through the glass using the furious swing of a metal chair to finish the job, sending it flying out and down into the water along with the wall of glass.

\------

“HEY!!” Kara finally hears the booming in the background over the sound of rushing water and screeching debris.She registers it for the first real time as she was focused on the bleeding nurse in her arms. 

And she looks up to see a hospital security guard leaning out an opening three and stories up, waving down at her.

“We’re gonna help you! Just hang on!”

Kara can’t help but nearly break a smile of disbelief.

“Hey - hey you hear that? Come on, Elizabeth, just stay with me. Okay? Stay with me!” her relieved voice becomes more demanding and more desperate when the poor young nurse remains unresponsive and her head gushes more than ever.

What happens next happens fast, but not fast enough.

The rescuers tie bedsheets, forming a tight loop at the bottom and they quickly lower it down towards Kara.

She ties it around Elizabeth’s body and chest as best she can to ensure she’s secure. Then she waves up and they begin to pull.

A chain gang is formed on the 9th floor above as they yank and pull further and further until they finally draw the nurse up and through the open window. 

“Lizzy?!” another nurse cries out in recognition as she rushes over, Alex quickly joining her to help.

Two men quickly set the unconscious woman aside so the medical team can work on her as they instead focus on dropping the makeshift rope back down.

But Lena hasn’t moved from her spot several feet back. She briefly looks down at the poor nurse who’s chest Alex shoves on, administering CPR, and it’s a brutal flashback to the same scene with Kara after the cliffs. _'But it’s not Kara.'_ she reminds herself, swallowing down the overwhelming sickness and fear threatening to rise up. 

_'Kara’s coming'_ , Lena says again and again to herself as she watches the security guard yell out the window again, his voice quickly becoming muffled in her ears and everything around her becoming a blur as her pulse races and heart pounds.

Her hands ball into tight, anxious fists as she waits. And waits.

Down below -

Kara lifts her foot into the loop and stands to gets a tighter grip on the sheets as she’s pulled up, further and further, bouncing against the windows slightly from the sloppy, hurried attempt to bring her to safety.

It’s only when she’s fully out of the water that the pain starts to creep in. Every searing nick and cut, every bodily bruise and busted bone in her hand. But the adrenaline mutes it enough to hold on, to breathe hard as she’s pulled closer to safety. Closer to finding out if Elizabeth will be okay. Closer to _Lena_ , wherever Lena may be. Kara shuts her eyes briefly and thinks only of Lena, counting the moments until she can see her again. Hold her. Kiss her. And never let her go. 

Up above -

Lena shuts her eyes, thinking only of Kara. Counting the moments until she can see her again. Hold her. Kiss her. And never let her go. 

Kara feels a strong hand on her wrist and she climbs up over the ledge with the help of the security guard and a male nurse who grit and huff in their own exhaustion as they finally pull her up fully to safety.

She hits the ground on her knees in a wet, bloody, exhausted mess, breathing labored and raspy as she coughs from what she can now feel for the first time as the previous inhalation of that filthy water.

“You good? You alright?” the security guard asks as a doctor quickly approaches to ask the same.

But Kara ignores their questions when her strained dark blues peer right past, her gaze drifting beyond them, beyond their forms and their concerned voices, beyond the crowd of helpful rescuers and curious bystanders to instead find - 

Stunning, tearful emeralds.


	8. Chapter 8

Kara ignores all surrounding questions, all concern. She just keeps looking at those glorious green eyes.

When her rescuers finally turn to see what has her attention - Kara, now on her knees, slumps back onto her heels in exhaustion as she still peers past them - staring at Lena with relief, desperation, and so much love.

Lena launches herself forward, collapsing to wrap her arms around Kara’s neck and hold onto her for dear life. And Kara does the same, arms wrapping around Lena’s back and hands gripping her with an intense fury as if she’s afraid she’ll lose her again if she ever lets go, or even lets up.

“Lena…” Kara chokes out through a raspy throat, barely above a whisper.

And Lena just hugs tighter, a hand slipping up to the back of Kara’s head.

And there they remain, embracing one another as everyone watches in sympathy and affection.

Kara inhales deeply, taking in the natural scent of her. Her hand slips under Lena’s shirt only a little because she just needs to feel her skin, to feel that it’s real. That she’s real. That she didn’t die and this isn’t some cruelly taunting mirage.

“You’re real.” Kara can’t help but say exactly what she’s thinking.

Lena pulls back and takes Kara’s face in hand, equally relieved and grateful to the fates that brought Kara back to her.

“I’m real. I’m here. You’re here. I - I knew you were alive. I knew you’d come back to me.” she says tearfully.

“I _knew_.” Lena repeats one last time as she leans her forehead against Kara’s.

And Kara leans in and kisses her, furiously and full of relief.

And finally those around them just nod to each other and move on, happy to have reunited them and allowing them their moment in privacy.

But when Kara’s lips scrape off hers in a way Lena’s never felt, in an almost awkward, trembling, confusing way - she frowns. Before she can ask if she’s alright, Kara quickly looks past her to find Alex’s relieved stare. Tears come to Kara’s eyes at the sight of her sister -

Until her gaze lowers and she sees that Alex has stopped working on Elizabeth.

Kara’s lips part and her brow furrows.

“Wh…” she starts to ask but Alex just shakes her head.

“I’m sorry.” she finally says, gently.

And then Kara goes more pale than she already is.

“Can I —“ Alex says, approaching carefully, bending down to kneel next to Kara and Lena, “Can I see your hand? That looks pretty bad.” she says, having noticed the horrific state of it at Lena’s back. And that’s when Lena first really registers just how bloody and broken Kara’s hand is - the same hand she’d damaged before at the cliff.

“Oh my God, Kara…” Lena says at the sight.

But Kara just pulls her hand away from Alex’s attempted grasp, her eyes not leaving Elizabeth’s dead face as a sheet is sadly placed over her face by a coworker.

Lena looks from the woman to Kara. And the reality of the loss sets in. Kara tried to save her and she failed and she knows what that would do to someone like Kara. Always heroic Kara. And she notices now she’s trembling more than before, despite a very specific lack of chill in the air. In fact it’s hot and humid and there’s no reason she should be shaking like this except -

“Kara, I think you’re in shock.” Alex explains, her own voice uneasy, as she’s never seen her sister like this.

“Kara these cuts — all these cuts, we need to clean them. They could become infected, the water’s dirty.” she says of the visible cuts on Kara’s face, neck and arms. But Lena meanwhile hasn’t stopped looking at Kara’s face - at her eyes. Her distant, empty eyes.

“Where can we clean her up?” Lena finally asks to Alex, never averting her gaze from Kara’s ghostly stare.

———

As Alex opens a large bottle of hydrogen peroxide, Kara stands barefoot in the tiled shower space of an empty patient bathroom.

Lena unbuttons Kara’s soaked, filthy shirt and slowly peels it back and off her shoulders. She tries and fails to hold back an audible gasp when she sees the state of Kara’s body. Bruised, bloodied and broken, Kara looks like she’s been through - exactly what she’s been through.

The sound makes Alex turn and when she sees it her heart breaks at the sight of her sister’s black and blue-hued back, made even worse by long gashes that look like she’s been whipped, flesh torn from debris and brutal impacts that she can’t even begin to imagine.

Alex has to immediately turn away and gather herself. She forces herself to breathe. She knows she needs to be strong for Kara, and for Lena.

Kara doesn’t move or react as Lena gently removes her bra, then undoes and drags down the soaked jeans that hug her legs, taking her underwear with it and she has to hold back a cry now as she kneels to do it, previously catching sight of the rest of the damage to Kara's pelvis and legs. She was already intimately familiar with Kara’s many scars from a lifetime lived on the edge, but this? Seeing the endless bloody cuts and thick contusions and feeling the pale coldness of Kara’s usually warm and olive-toned skin nearly breaks Lena.

Alex senses this and rushes over, kneeling down as she reaches for the clothing. She offers Lena a reassuring nod as Lena hands them off and composes herself before they both stand.

Alex sets the wet clothes aside and grabs the bottle again as Lena lovingly sweeps Kara’s wet hair to the side, over one shoulder.

“Kara, this is going to hurt, okay, but I have to.” Alex says gently -

As she starts to pour the contents of the bottle down Kara’s back.

Kara’s body only barely tenses, her eyes slamming shut and jaw setting.

“It’s okay. You’re okay. I’m right here.” Lena tells her, taking position directly in front of Kara, between her and the wall.

Alex pours more across Kara’s shoulders, down her backside. Along the sides and backs of her legs. When she pours over a particularly nasty, deep gash at her hip that will undoubtedly require stitches, Kara’s better hand reaches past Lena to brace at the wall. And she begins to tremble harder than ever.

Alex wants to apologize, but she says nothing when instead Lena extends a hand for the bottle and Alex obliges in respect.

Lena then pours it down the front of Kara’s body, starting at her chest and working her way down.

Kara grits.

“It’s okay, it’s over now. It’s done.” Lena assures her as she quickly hands the now empty bottle back to Alex.

But when Kara won’t even look at her, when her body begins to shake even more and her breathing starts to increase.

“Alex can you give us a minute.” Lena asks, not looking away from Kara’s lowered face.

Alex doesn’t want to leave but she also doesn’t want to intrude and the determined stare Lena has at her sister tells her she shouldn’t argue.

“Of course.” she offers instead and quickly steps out.

Lena’s hands come to Kara’s face.

“Kara.”

But Kara instead breathes harder. Faster.

She’s starting to hyperventilate.

“It's okay, Kara.” she assures her, though she herself is increasingly worried, as she’s never seen Kara like this. Even at her worst and most damaged and helpless after the surgery, Kara would just get quiet. Sad. At times even frustrated. But never panicked. Never shaking. Never broken. Never like _this_.

“Kara, it’s okay. You did all you could. You did all you could.” she tells her, pulling her in now, putting her arms around Kara’s nude body and wrapping herself up into her.

“Kara it’s okay. It’s over, love. I’m right here. Please come back to me.” she practically pleads.

And at that, Kara breaks. She lets out a choked, strained single cry over Lena’s shoulder and her body threatens to crumble as she trembles and shakes even harder. As Lena lets them both lower to the ground, Kara is on her knees, gasping for air with Lena holding her. She can’t catch her breath. She can’t see anything but blinding pain and panic. She’s missing. She’s somewhere else. She’s in the water. She’s near death. She’s without Lena. She’s just - gone.

“Kara you need to breathe. Kara-”

Lena pulls Kara against her impossibly closer, chest to chest, slowing her own breath and willing Kara to follow suit. To breathe with her.

And Kara finally takes a deep breath, and Lena slowly and deliberately breathes out to guide Kara’s own exhale.

“Breathe, Kara. Just breathe.” Lena barely whispers into Kara’s ear.

And suddenly they’re back to that night under the lights at Ano’s food truck, dancing together, Lena in her strong, confident arms. They’re back in Kara’s bed, her warm, comforting body on top of Lena’s, filling her up before guiding her back down. They’re in all the many, many times Kara’s voice has spoken low in _Lena’s_ ear in comfort, in passion, in love - willing her to just _breathe_.

Kara’s breathing finally slows.

And Lena feels the wetness of her hero's tears at her neck. “I’ve got you.” she tells her, closing her eyes as she holds Kara tighter and assures - “Always.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, sorry it took so long to update. Secondly, here's the deal... I originally wanted to stretch this story out a little more. I had planned to put them through a bit more action and angst and then wrap it all up. But life's crazy enough right now for everybody, so instead, I felt like focusing on the goodness and love. It still ends exactly as always planned, just a bit soon. I hope you've enjoyed this story, and final chapter. Will I ever pop in to provide little one shots showing other key moments of their lives? Maybe. But in case I never get around to it, I hope you'll find this satisfying. Thank you.

Kara now wears a set of pale blue scrubs as she sits next to Lena on the floor, down the hall from the crowds. Lena, who tilts her head onto Kara’s shoulder and leans into her as if she can’t get close enough, because she can’t. She never wants to feel distance between them again, no matter how big or small.

Kara’s too tired to lift her arms and wrap them around her, so instead she simply leans her head onto Lena’s, closes her eyes and inhales a distant, faded floral mixed with sweat and a soft comforting scent that is so distinctly Lena’s.

Lena clutches Kara’s good hand between her own pair, their fingers interlaced as she strokes the back of Kara’s slightly marred hand. It’s nothing like the demolished one, which she can barely bring herself to look at without feeling sick at the thought of everything Kara just went through, and what she did to find her way back.

Lena slides her hand to Kara’s scraped face and lets it trace down her neck, coming to rest with fingertips at her bruised collar bone, just under the opening of the scrubs. She feels the intense relief of Kara’s usual warmth returning, her body once again emitting that wonderful sun-like heat, skin practically humming again under her touch with that familiar electricity she loves so much.

“Thank you…” Lena says.

Kara remains still.

“...For coming back to me.”

Kara swallows down a swell of emotion in response.

“Thank you for bringing me back.” She says quietly.

Lena can’t help a single tear from escaping as she shuts her own eyes now.

Kara lifts their clasped hands and uses it to nudge Lena’s chin up, so without even re-opening their eyes, they can instinctively find each other’s lips for the gentlest, nudging kiss.

As their lips slowly drag off each other -

“Hey. Sorry.”

They turn with tired eyes to find Alex standing in front of them, approaching tentatively with supplies in hand, which she gestures to via slight lift.

“I tried to give you guys a minute, but Kara, _that hand_ -“

“No, of course.” Lena says as she sits up a little straighter, and Kara instantly misses the weight of her body against her own.

And when Lena sees Alex’s heartbroken, desperate eyes staring down at her sister, sees the pain, the relief, everything she herself has had time to process -

“Alex can I use your phone? Just for a minute, I’m sure it’s low. But I need to let my family know I’m alright and I should’ve called them already.” And yes, it’s an excuse to give the sisters some time alone, but it’s also the truth. She hadn’t been able to ask before, not even able to think about anything or anyone other than Kara. But now that Kara was back, now that Kara was _okay_ … she was ready to check in with her family, the same way Alex had earlier when she’d texted her own parents and nearly cried when they wrote back informing her they too were safe and their home was intact.

“Of course, Lena. Please.” Alex waves off the request as if it's absurd to even doubt, quickly digging her phone from her pocket before extending it to Lena, as she stands. But Kara doesn’t release Lena’s other hand just yet.

“Don’t go far.” Kara says with a firm instruction and exhausted desperation in her eyes that she wouldn’t dare argue with. Regarding something she wouldn’t dare do.

Lena bends back down and kisses Kara on the temple, “Never again.” she says quietly into Kara’s ear, which Kara leans into.

And their fingers finally slip apart.

And as guaranteed, she stays within Kara’s view, simply stepping away to give them their needed moment as she calls Lillian.

And as if she’s been passed from one to the other, there’s no time for Kara to feel any lack of love, immediately finding Alex’s eyes as she takes a seat in front of her, legs crossed. But Alex averts her stare almost instantly, rambling as she sits and looks at the supplies in her hand as if hesitating on what to do even though she uses them every day -

“Yeah, so we made contact with some local EMTs. They know we’re all here. They’re just waiting for the waters to fully recede so they can check the structural integrity. So, as soon as it’s safe, we can evacuate. They think it’ll take some time though. Said we might be here all night. But at least, you know, we’re all together. And my patients are all stable. So. We’ll be okay. We’ll be fine, now. We’ll be just fine.” she assures, more herself than Kara, though there’s a slight shake to her voice.

“Okay, so…” Alex starts again, drawing Kara’s mangled hand closer, “…that hand.”

And then Kara sees her eyes watering and her lips quivering. And Alex’s own hands trembling as she goes to tear open the pack of gauze in her hands.

Kara leans forward and yanks Alex into a hug.

Alex’s face contorts a bit as she clutches her tightly.

“I’m okay.” Kara assures, barely above a whispers.

“Promise?” Alex asks, almost childlike, with tears rolling down her cheeks.

Kara just nods firmly against Alex’s shoulder.

She then pulls back and using the back of her good fingers she quickly wipes the two tears from Alex’s cheeks as Alex offers a slight huff of a half-laugh and then Leans her forehead against Kara’s. They stay like this for a moment, eyes closed.

“You smell terrible.” Alex suddenly teases.

Now it’s Kara’s turn to laugh as they pull apart. But when she coughs slightly from the chuckle -

“Hey, whoa - how’s your breathing? Any pain? Wheezing? Flutters?”

Kara just shakes her head.

“Just inhaled a lot of water.”

But Alex still eyes her. 

“Yeah? Seriously? Or you just playing tough? Because Kara, _I swear to God_ -“

Kara squeezes Alex’s knee with her good hand.

“I’m good, Alex. If I feel anything in my chest - other than soreness from my entire body feeling like I got run over by a bus - you’ll be first to know.”

Alex’s warning head tilt confirms she’d better be. 

A moment later, she’s mid-wrap after treating Kara’s hand. She shakes her head in slight admonishment, “ _Same damn hand_.”

“Sorry I didn’t use the other. Even ‘em out.” Kara jokes.

Alex just shakes her head, then follows Kara’s resumed stare at Lena down the hall, watching as she nods and talks, obviously repeatedly assuring her mother she’s alright.

Alex smiles slightly.“You’re lucky to have her.” 

Kara just continues to gaze affectionately, because she knows.

“We both are.” Alex then adds, thankful for Lena’s earlier gestures of comfort and understanding, despite everything happening around them.

After another brief moment of silence.

“So I hear you two were getting married today.”

Kara’s face drops in guilt, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you -“

“Kara.” Alex stops her with a slight smirk, “You not being impulsive would be you not being you.”

She then works to finish the wrap on Kara’s hand - just assomething hits the younger sister. Almost a panic.

“Wait, where are my clothes?”

“Oh, um…” Alex turns and pushes up, taking a few steps down the hall to grab the bag off an empty gurney. When she turns, Kara is on her feet and right behind her, wrapped-handed arm to her side from what is obvious rib pain. But she ignores Alex’s warning “ _Hey_.” of admonishment for the sudden movements.

Kara quickly digs into her bagged pants with her functional fingers.

And she finds the certificate and rings. She sinks in relief that the items somehow survived all of what she’s been through, though the paper is damp and slightly torn. But she smiles, as she realizes she truly did have Lena with her the whole time. But then the mood fades and she shakes her head.

“I didn’t want another day to pass where a ring wasn’t on her finger. Where she wasn’t my wife.”

Alex watches her with sympathy, then slowly shrugs, “I mean legally speaking, she kinda sorta already is, you just need to have the ceremony.” Alex offers, trying to offer a bit of comfort on the issue - until her face falls a little, then her eyes light up.

Alex has an idea.

Kara notices the sly grin forming on her lips.

“What?”

But Alex just smiles more broadly.

“Get your girl, and meet me back at the group.”

“Wh- Alex? What are you…”

But Alex is already rounding the corner.

Kara turns and looks back at Lena, who by now has finished her phone call and is eyeing Kara curiously, given the confused expression on her face.

——-

Somehow, Alex had remembered seeing a priest at the hospital first thing that morning. He’d been there to give last rights to an elderly patient whose family had requested him. And he’d remained there as everything happened. All she had to do was find him amidst the huddled, terrified masses of a few hundred people. And she had. She’d found him sitting next to a mother and her teenage son, providing the small group around them comfort with a prayer and a kind smile.

Despite the circumstance, she’d smiled even more broadly when she’d found him again.

And now she smiles with tears in her eyes as she stands a couple steps behind her sister, witnessing something incredible, as she holds up her phone with Kelly on FaceTime to watch along with her -

Something everyone is witnessing. The entirety of those huddled, terrified masses have joined together for a brief moment of relief from the death and destruction all around them. From the fear. From the uncertainty. The security guard who’d helped Lena earlier even stands close by, lifting her camera to capture the moment on film for her - 

\- as Kara and Lena stand before the priest, surrounded by a group of strangers who, at this point, might as well be family.

Kara’s thumb strokes Lena’s hands in hers.

And the two can’t take their eyes off of each other. Blue holds green in the kind of intense stare that took Lena’s breath away that first night at the house party, and somehow, all this time later, still does. And she has a feeling it always will. And she’s more than eager to find out.

The initial, traditional exchanges move quickly. Neither are very aware of what they’re saying or what’s being said around them. All they can pay attention to is each other. It’s as if the whole world melts away and all they can do is stare at each other and nod along and say what they’re told to say. Until it’s time to speak their hearts. Until it’s time for their vows.

Lena can’t help but look down briefly at Kara’s hand which is so steady as it hovers near Lena’s finger with the ring, ready to be placed. She mentally notes how Kara is just always. So. Steady. Even after her momentary break. She’s right back to being Kara. Her rock. Her comfort. Her anchor.

She’s so busy looking down at Kara’s strong and stilled fingers, she doesn’t even notice Kara’s eyes tracing over her.

“God, you’re beautiful.” Kara exhales.

And at this, green rejoins blue as Kara begins.

“You took me by surprise, Lena Luthor. Before you, I thought I knew who I was. Who I was meant - or maybe even doomed - to be. And then you shook the core of my foundation and you became the dream upon which I wanted to build my life. There was no me before you, Lena. Not really. I don’t care if that sounds unhealthy, or codependent or whatever else Kelly may correct me on later.”

Behind her, Alex can’t help but grin at this, and on the phone screen Kelly does the same, as Kara continues -

“My whole life I’ve known so much… unease, upheaval and…“

Kara swallows it down with a slightly furrowed brow, the wounds fresh given what’s transpired today -

“…and loss. Never able to settle in, to let myself feel. To let myself love, and be loved. But with you? With you I’m calm. I’m - still. With you, I’m loved. Without question. Without fear. With you… _I’m home_. You’re my soulmate, Lena. There will never be a moment I won’t stand by your side, that I won’t hold you in my arms, that I won’t protect you and love you with all of my heart. With all that I am. In this life and the next.”

Lena’s lips part, breath slipping out and tears threatening to roll as the ring is slipped so surely onto her finger. And the moment it’s fully on, she’s squeezing Kara’s hand tightly, as she herself has never felt so sure. So full. So steady. It’s new for her. It’s a peace and confidence she’s sought her whole life and never found. Until the woman who stands before her showed her how to be those things. Until now, when that same, gorgeous, strong, heroic woman just vowed to spend the rest of her life with her.

She shakes her head ever so slightly the moment Kara looks back up at her. And she doesn’t even hesitate to begin -

“You are… you are my anchor, Kara Danvers. You’re my rock when I’m unsteady.”

Kara’s head tilts at this, looking at Lena with mutual gratitude for the same. The same which she’d in fact just reciprocated today, and as well not long ago after the accident, when she needed it most.

Kara continues to hang on Lena’s every word from here, all while lost in her emerald eyes.

“You’re this… warm, beautiful beacon of light that drew me in. That I couldn’t help but run towards. You enveloped me. Consumed me. You... make me feel… _everything_ , all at once in the most intoxicating of ways, and you love me like I never knew possible to be loved. I mean when you look at me…”

Lena’s chest rises and falls, accenting her words with a sentiment she can’t even verbally express. But she doesn’t have to, because they both already know.

And so she just continues.

“Everything I ever dreamed, and so much more, I’ve found with you. I’ve found myself with you. It’s as if I was lost and wandering in the woods and you saw me through the trees and you took my hand and you carried me home. And you held me. And loved me. And chose me, like it was the most natural thing in the world for you to do, as if it were as easy as breathing. And Kara, Kara I choose you, too. I will always choose you. I will always stand by _your_ side. Because I love you. With all that _I_ am. You are my breath. You are my life. And you are _my_ soulmate. In this life and the next.”

The final words are spoken as she slips the ring along Kara’s rough finger. And the moment it’s on, before anyone else can speak or even react -

Kara pulls Lena in and kisses her with the fury of a thousand promises. A thousand forevers.

“I… suppose that wraps it up for us then, and you two are now wives. I pronounce you married. Two souls, joined together, apparently forever.” The priest lightly chuckles.

Alex quickly wipes a tear streaming down her own cheek away as the two finally part, foreheads remaining touched while all around them people gently clap with warm smiles, and some even with tears. It’s a rare, shared moment of beauty, love and light set amidst so much horror, loss and darkness.

Alex turns the phone to look at an equally moved Kelly on FaceTime and mouths, ‘I love you.’ quietly to her. And she mouths it back. It’s the first time they’ve said it. And they both know they’ll probably say it for the rest of their lives, too. Kelly nods to her and Alex hangs up to preserve the remaining battery life.She tucks the phone into her pocket and looks back up again to find Kara and Lena still embracing, and still exchanging light but intensely passionate kisses.

“Okay, you two. There are children present.” Alex teases as she clears her throat and turns to find a few blushing faces around them.

The newly married pair can’t help but lightly smile as Kara leans in to offer one last, deeply meaningful brush of Lena’s lips and breathy exhale, accented by squeeze of Lena's hip under her strong grip in a way that lingers and travels to the core of Lena's very being - an unspoken promise of what’s to come when they can be alone together again.

“I love you.” Lena says first before Kara can beat her to it.

“I love you.” Kara says, tucking Lena’s hair behind her ear, catching sight of the new ring on her finger. And then she looks down to the one on Lena’s. And she feels the most intense, overwhelming swell of relief. And Lena must feel it too, because they’re both launching against each other in the tightest hug, arms fully wrapped around each other, so tightly pressed together they can feel each other’s heartbeats. And they both exhale finally and fully, for the first time in ages. They breathe together, as so many times before. Always connected.

——-

The next morning, along with so many others, as Alex and the staff focus on the evacuation and transport of patients to other locations -

Kara and Lena would tiredly walk outside, hand in hand, a warm sun baring down on them like it had only one day prior, a day when things were much more hopeful. Much more normal.

But that morning would be so very different, as they stood amongst the chaotic remnants of a once thriving urban cityscape.

From that morning on, nothing would ever be the same on the island. At least not for a very long time.

Half the island of Oahu had been flooded, with Honolulu practically decimated. A quarter of a million people were displaced. Six thousand were dead. Meanwhile the big island saw nearly 20% coverage of lava and ash, leading to hundreds more dead, and thousands of lost homes.

And Kara and Lena would walk amidst the worst of it all in Honolulu that first day, past stunned locals and arriving military and first responders, tourists, neighbors and friends. All of them equalized from that moment forward, no longer separated by class, age, gender, sexuality, race or otherwise. They would just be... people. People who lost those they loved, and some who found them once again, like Kara and Lena.

Kara would raise Lena’s hand in hers and kiss the back of it, pulling her in comfortingly when she felt her tremble at the sight of the dead.

They would pass an elderly Vietnamese man, standing in the middle of the street looking lost and in shock, peering out at the destruction all around him as if it was the worst thing he’d ever seen, despite a lifetime of witnessing the horrors of war and suffering.

Lena would instinctively lift her camera to capture his daze.

Hours later, they would return to the place where Kara’s house once stood, its wreckage almost entirely washed away, save but a few stacks of broken wood and tattered material. A few yards away, at the edge of a shredded treeline, they would find a sole, singular intact memento. A photo - of Kara’s parents on their wedding day. As Kara stands staring at it, Lena by her side, their attention would be grabbed by the sad cry of a desperate and exhausted cat in a nearby tree, its damp and trembling body clutched near the top of the palm, with long streaking scratches on the bark as if, much like Kara, it had held on for dear life - and survived. Despite her fresh wounds and head-to-toe aches - and Lena’s warnings to be careful - Kara would climb to the top and return safely to the bottom, placing the grateful creature into Lena’s welcoming arms.

They would both be relieved when they soon discovered Ano, his wife and their dog had survived, having fled to higher ground just in time. Their relief would grow when they’d discover Ruby and her grandmother were in Seattle visiting family when the wave struck.

And as they stand on the beach they once called home, Kara would promise Lena that they’d rebuild. But she hadn’t just meant their home...she’d meant all of it.

They would stay in a surviving hotel near downtown with their cat as Kara helped to rebuild at least two dozen other homes in the area surrounding her land, including Ano’s, before they even began to build their own.

Honolulu would be like a ghost town in the first weeks after, until eventually, things started getting back to normal amidst the rebuilding efforts, or as close to normal as they would be for at least 5 to 10 years. That was the official estimate. That it would take as long as a decade to fully rebuild the primary damage, and be at least 20 years before the economy could even hope to recover. It was an estimate Kara simply wouldn't accept, vowing to cut it in half even if she “had to rebuild it all herself”. And Lena would believe her. And support her. _Always_.

Later, in an interview, when someone would ask Kara why she’d remained in a place she’d experienced so much heartache, she would simply reply that “It’s my home. It’s where I grew up. Where I met my wife.” then, jokingly, “Home is where the trauma is.”

Everyone laughs and the quote becomes a meme, then a t-shirt, which Kara somehow turns into a way to raise money for the efforts.

Meanwhile Lena would, credited as Lena Luthor-Danvers, win a Pulitzer for the photo of the old Vietnamese man taken that first morning. She would donate majority of her winnings to the man, with the rest going to the organization Kara had established just one week after the catastrophe.

Kara would finally have a purpose in life, finally have an answer to Lena’s question about what she wanted to do since she was done surfing professionally. Once floating through her days without a single care, Kara would become laser focused and dedicated unlike anyone Lena had ever seen. She would wake up every morning and surf, and then get right to work. She would pour most of her own life savings into her efforts to rebuild. She would hit up every wealthy friend, celebrity and other contact she had to help. And Lena would join her, even convincing her own conservative family to help lobby an equally conservative president to send unprecedented aide to the island. Not only would they jointly raise nearly a billion dollars in their efforts, Kara even physically worked herself, day in and day out, personally helping to rebuild home after home, business after business.

When not overseeing the financials and playing the networking game Kara hated so much to gather more money for their efforts, she would would be there, all day, and even some nights, side-by-side with the people of the island, hammer and gear in hand, rebuilding.

Kara would come home so many nights and collapse down in a sweaty, filthy, sore heap, with scrapes and bruises and strained and aching muscles, adding to the map of scars on her ever perfect form. Yet she would still make love to Lena. Still send her over the edge time and again, after which they would hold each other close and fall fast asleep, only to wake up and repeat the same. Day after day, night after night. But it would be their life. And it would be beautiful. 

Sometimes Lena would tell her it was okay, they could just sleep. Half the time, Kara would ask if she was sure then sink in and let Lena hold her or wash her or stroke her hair until she dozed off mumbling how much she loved her. The other half, Kara would assure her she was okay though Lena could tell she wasn’t, always able to tell when she’d had a hard day comforting a family who’d cried about their their lost homes and loved ones. She would realize Kara needed the distraction and release and she was more than happy to oblige letting Kara mount and thrust into her with frustrated abandon and collapse into a heap as Lena would then hold her and tell her how proud she was of her, while Kara would thank her for loving her, for never giving up on her as she vowed to never give up on her home. “Always.” Lena would whisper into her ear, like so many times before.

Five years later, Kara and Lena would adopt a young local boy whose parents died in the disaster.

Eight years later they would have their own child, carried by Lena via in vitro fertilization, both donating eggs to be used ambiguously with an anonymous donor’s sperm, never wanting to know whose egg was actually used, as it wouldn’t matter to either of them. But when the little girl comes out with dirty blonde hair and stunning blue eyes and an unyielding bravery and strength - Lena knows she’d bore Kara’s child, honored to carry a piece of Kara inside of her, and given birth to _their_ daughter. A daughter who would be the flower girl, with their son and Alex by Kara’s side and Sam at Lena’s during a vowel renewal ten years after their wedding - at which they would dance to Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” as if they're the only two people in the world, until their children join them at their side and they all dance together as a family amidst laugher and joy.

Twenty years later, long after Oahu beats estimates to recovery, they would celebrate with the opening of a new high-tech hospital on the anniversary of the disaster, to be run by Alex as Chief and named Danvers-Luthor Center Medical, in honor of their efforts, though Alex would always joke how ‘awesome’ it feels having her name on a building where she’s chief.

Thirty years later they would spend their days relaxing by the beach, with Kara still as seemingly fit as ever in her sixties, catching a wave or two in the mornings before her body turns sore, as Lena would await video calls from their grandkids.

Many years later, one beautiful day, once old and gray -

They would pass in their bedroom, surrounded by their loved ones as “White Sandy Beach of Hawai’i” by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole plays low on the radio. After a lifetime of Kara protecting her, as they lay in bed together side by side, Lena would manage to whisper in her hero’s ear that it was okay, she’ll be right behind her.

In the end Lena would hold on, so Kara never had to lose her. Lena would pass a little that later that same night, before she ever even has a chance to miss her.Before the comforting warmth and smell of Kara even has the chance to leave their bed. 

And Lena would immediately see Kara again right after, standing on a beach, waiting for her, looking as young and perfect as the day they met, dressed in soft white pants and familiar blue bathing suit top covered by a loose white blouse that flows like a cape in the wind, her long, golden blonde hair reflecting in the most pure light she’d ever seen and piercing blue eyes gazing her way, as Kara extends a strong hand and pulls her emerald-eyed, raven-haired angel in a flowing white dress into her arms as their faces draw close, both smiling softly amidst the sounds of crashing waves as a bright light engulfs them.

A hundred years later, Kara and Lena’s legacy would still be remembered long after they moved on, as their joint statues stand tall in memorial at the center of Honolulu, a constant reminder of the paragons of hope and humanity… and a timeless representation of love.

END.


End file.
